Legacy
by SeekerFreefall
Summary: Originally written 10 years ago, just after S3 aired. AU. Assuming Daemon is defeated, what happens to the Mainframers after? Author name was originally Clearsky
1. Chapter 1

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town. Anyway, sit back to enjoy the ride, because this is going to be a very long bumpy drive, folks. Don't forget a cushion and some Tylenol.

********

Legacy

Part 1

"Well... at least that's over..." Bob looked up at Mainframe's sky as if the portals to the SuperComputer were still visible. Bob, Dot, Matrix, Andraia, Mouse and Tracer had just returned from there after defeating Daemon and cleansing the Guardian Collective of infection.

It had taken quite a while, and Mainframe had been damaged slightly, but on the whole, they were in better condition then the SuperComputer was. Daemon hadn't gone quietly, she'd gone down fighting all the way, and the Guardians' ranks had been thinned as she used them to try and stop Bob from getting to her. Turbo had taken control of what was left of the Collective, and had started rebuilding the SuperComputer and reclaiming the Net from Viral control.

The news media had wanted to know everything that had gone on, and while the Mainframers had told them everything they could, the newsies hadn't thought it was enough. They had started harrassing them, even attacking them, claiming that there was a Net-wide cover-up going on, and that maybe this new order was just another virus taking control. After all, if it could happen once, what was stopping it from happening again? Bob had talked to Turbo about the media, and Turbo had sent the Mainframers home without informing the newsies until after the fact.

So now they were home in Mainframe, and they were more then happy to be there. Matrix and Andraia had their arms around each other's waists, and were smiling, happy just to _be_ there; Bob and Dot were sharing an embrace, and Tracer was consoling Mouse on her loss. Mouse had discovered that her original home system had been destroyed by Daemon. The sprites there had managed to discover Daemon's viral background and had informed the entire system, hoping to spread the word to the Net and discredit Daemon. Daemon, however, found it easier to simply chop off Net access and drop a bomb through a portal. The entire city had been demolished. A large number of Mouse's friends had been there at the time, and none of them had gotten out. Losing so many of them all at once had actually caused Mouse to cry, a loss of her famed control.

Matrix and Andraia looked at each other, recognizing Mouse's feelings of pain and guilt. Andraia gently touched Mouse's shoulder, and her dark blue eyes radiated sympathy for the hacker. "I'm so sorry Mouse, I know how you must feel. I-"

Ashamed at her moment of weakness, Mouse lashed out in anger. "What in the Net would you know about it? You've never lost anyone close to you... you've got Matrix, who would you have to lose? How could you EVER know how it feels to lose _anyone_? You're a Game Sprite - you're not even real! Don't tell ME you know what it's like!" Mouse smacked Andraia's hand off her shoulder, shouting at the younger woman, and part of her felt good at causing the sudden bloom of pain in Andraia's eyes. Mouse's outburst had caught the attention of everyone within earshot, and she felt a savage satisfaction at seeing Andraia pale.

The young Sprite stepped back, tears in her eyes. She choked back a sob and spun around even as Matrix stepped over and embraced her. Mouse turned her glare on Matrix, but was shocked at the hatred she saw, and all of it was directed at her. To her amazement, she saw his golden eye glow and target her, and Mouse felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She'd seen all too well just what Matrix could do when angry, and her sorrow was a thing of the past as she realized she might not live another 5 nanoseconds. She made herself keep her gaze locked on his, hoping it might unnerve him. No such luck...


	2. Chapter 2

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

Legacy

Part 2

Matrix tightened his arms around Andraia as she cried, and his lips drew back in a snarl of pure hatred as he stared at Mouse. He trembled very slightly with the effort of holding himself back, yet no sign of his anger showed in the way he tenderly cradled Andraia to his chest. Matrix's eyes didn't move from Mouse's, and Mouse felt a drop of sweat roll down the side of her face as she fought to keep her eyes level with his. Her eyes flickered to the side as she caught a bit of movement, and that was when Matrix moved. Swiftly, almost gracefully, he swung Andraia to his left, twitched his hand and summoned Gun, raised his arm in full extension, tightened his finger on the trigger and -

"Matrix! Stop it!" Bob stepped in front of him and put his hand on the top of Gun. He tried to push it down and away, and was surprised when Matrix never even moved a micro. "Matrix! Put it down... **NOW**!" Behind Bob, Mouse had collapsed into herself, shaking slightly with reaction. Tracer put his arm around her to support her and she leaned against him with a shaky smile before glancing back at Matrix. Bob grimly repeated "I said, _put - it - **down**_!"

"No." The roughness in Matrix's voice surprised them all, it sounded almost as if he was in pain. Dot had come up to stand beside Mouse, and she narrowed her eyes, carefully watching Matrix. No one had ever seen Matrix this way before... He had hated Daemon, and been focused on getting rid the virus, but this was more then that. This was a much more dangerous form of hatred.

"Enzo..." Both men turned their heads at the softly spoken word. Andraia looked up at Matrix, tears still slipping down her cheeks, and she slowly shook her head. "Enzo... she's not worth it." Ignoring the shocked looks from the others in the room, Andraia placed one hand on Matrix's arm and pulled Gun down from its firing position. "She's not worth losing your home over. Let it go..."

"Let it- Andraia, how can you say that? After Kylla-"

"They don't know about - Ky..." Andraia closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Matrix, still crying. "They don't know.. how could they? Just.. leave it... please?"

Matrix nodded, and he turned to her, ignoring the confused looks from the rest of the room as he held her tightly. Bob took a step closer to them, half raising a hand to touch Matrix's shoulder when he saw a tear drip from Matrix's eye. Totally bewildered, Bob let his hand fall as he stepped back from the young couple. He retreated to where Dot stood and slipped an arm around her waist, suddenly needing to have her close. Dot turned to Bob, her vivid purple eyes filled with confusion, and she asked the question that all of them were thinking.

"Who's Kylla?"

Matrix and Andraia glanced over at the group of Sprites, then at each other for a moment, then back at the group. Matrix cleared his throat, but when he spoke, it didn't sound as if it had done any good; his voice was rough and he had to start over. "Ky- Kylla is-" he paused to clasp Andraia tighter as she started to cry again, louder this time. "Kylla... _was_... our daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

Legacy

Part 3

"Your... _daughter_?" Dot was stunned. "You - had a... daughter?" Dot wasn't the only one who was shocked. Bob, Tracer and Mouse, as well as the numerous binomes who had clustered into a group about 20 feet away from the couple. Matrix's only reply was to close his eyes and rest his head on Andraia's.

"So that's why..." Mouse whispered, her eyes wide, then shame filled her as she realized what her words had meant to Andraia. "Oh, no... Andraia, I'm sorry! I didn't know..."

"I know Mouse... just leave it, ok? Please?" Andraia looked up at Matrix and the two turned and slowly walked out of the room, arms around each other's waists.

"A baby?" Dot muttered, shaking her head. "I don't believe it... they had a baby?" She looked at Bob, who met her look with an amazed one of his own. "I didn't think Matrix would take a baby into the Games... would he? I mean, would he take his own daughter into one?" Bob nodded to the empty doorway.

"Only one way to find out..."

********

Matrix and Andraia flew on their zipboards to Floating Point Park, where they stopped at the topmost level and found a secluded grove. They sat on a rock, not saying anything, and watched the system switch from its day cycle to night. In the dim light, Matrix pried open a compartment on the orange belt he wore on his left shoulder and took out a small opaque holo-cube. He gently squeezed the sides before setting it down on the ground in front of them. The glade was suddenly filled with the sound of childish laughter as a holo-image of a young girl appeared, projected from the top of the cube. The scene played out in full color, and hovered about waist-high to Matrix off the ground.

The first scene showed Matrix playing with a small girl, barely an hour old. She had purple eyes, green skin and green hair, and small fins on her arms and legs. The baby gurgled as Matrix tossed her up in the air and caught her, and laughter rang through the clearing again. The scene then switched to Andraia, calming the small sprite by rocking her to sleep and singing a soft lullaby, tugging the blanket away from the baby's face for a moment so the camera could get a clear shot. The view zoomed in on the child's face, showing a small sweet smile playing around her lips, and the eyelids fluttered as the baby sighed before falling asleep. The view pulled back to show Andraia again, who apparently scolded the unseen Matrix by whispering, "Don't let Kylla see the camera or we'll never get her back to sleep."

The next scene had apparently taken place before the others, and it showed Matrix and Andraia, with the baby in her arms standing in front of a grey-skinned sprite.

"Her name?"

"Kylla Matrix," Andraia said as she looked up at Matrix and smiled before looking back at the grey sprite.

The sprite nodded, tapping keys on a panel beside him. "Now, I know you'll want to make your own additions to this before I give it to her, so..." The sprite pointed to a small icon sitting on the panel and moved back as Matrix stepped forward and picked it up. He handed it to Andraia and took the baby while she stepped forward and typed commands into the workstation. She then used a familiar setup to transfer codes from her icon to the new one. Replacing her own icon, she reached for Matrix's and repeated the process. Stepping back, Andraia watched as the grey sprite picked up the new icon. Matrix opened the blanket that encased the tiny baby, who was not even a second old, and the sprite placed the icon on the child's chest.

"Welcome to Syndara, Kylla Matrix. May you live a long and happy life, here, in your new home." Matrix and Andraia grinned at each other and kissed, then Matrix held up the baby and kissed her too. Andraia laughed as Kylla waved her tiny fists in the air and gurgled, the light flashing off her tiny spines.

Andraia reached down and tapped the cube, shutting it off. She shivered slightly, and Matrix slid off the rock and pulled her down with him, wrapping his body around her. His body cut the chilling breeze, and she lay there secure, knowing he'd take care of her. She dug her head into his chest, eyes open and finally dry. She ran Kylla's death through her mind again, trying to see what she could have done differently.

"If only I'd-"

"Shhhh... there was nothing we could have done that would have changed things. You _know_ that Andraia... you know it. Please.. you've got to stop blaming yourself for what happened." Andraia drew back her head and looked into Matrix's weary eyes.

"I will... just as soon as you do." She smiled sadly and kissed him. "You know me so well... you even know what I'm thinking." Matrix smiled back, but the worry and grief never left his eyes. Andraia's smile faded. "I can't help it... if only I hadn't been so slow, I might have dodged the blast..."

Matrix kissed a tear from her cheek and tightened his arms around her, then shifted slightly so her head nestled between his chest and arm. "Andraia... if I'd stopped that virus when I first had the chance..."

She looked at him, then reached up and wiped the tear from his eye. "You know we both couldn't have done any different... But Blessed User, why did doing the right thing have to cost us so much?" They lay there, each busy with their own thoughts, and finally the two of them drifted off to sleep.

********

It was Bob who found it; his boot tapped something small on the ground, sending it rolling over to rest against the sleeping form of Matrix and Andraia. Bob quietly called Dot over, and carefully picked up the cube before backing out of the small glade.

"What is that?" Dot looked at the cube, puzzled.

"I don't know... it's kind of soft. Maybe-" Bob had tested how soft it was by squeezing the cube, and he dropped it as the first images appeared. The two of them watched the replay of what the young couple had seen the night before, and Dot's eyes filled with tears as she saw her young niece for the first time.

The replay came to the naming ceremony, and Dot grabbed blindly for Bob's hand as Andraia changed Kylla's icon, adding Game Sprite mode to its code. Dot put her hand to her mouth as she realized that now, Kylla could travel with her parents from Game to Game.

"Oh no..."

"'Oh no', what?" Matrix and Andraia stepped out onto the path, Matrix's eyes dropping to the holo-cube on the ground. He swooped down and grabbed it, shutting it off and stowing it back into its compartment before Bob or Dot could say anything.

"Matrix... we need to talk." Bob took in the rumpled rair, the bits of grass clinging to their bodies, and the sadness of their eyes, and continued, "but maybe after a shower and some breakfast?"

Matrix smiled wryly; he hadn't missed Bob's once-over. "That... sounds like a very good idea. Right Andraia?" Matrix stretched, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as Andraia grinned and shook her head.

"Bob.. you mentioned food. If you ever need him to do _anything_, just tell him there's a meal at the end of it, and it'll get done before you know it."

Bob smiled. "You can clean up at my place, then meet us over at the Diner. How about that?"

Andraia playfully punched Matrix's arm. "Sounds like a plan to me!"


	4. Chapter 4

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

Legacy

Part 4

Bob and Dot were sitting at a booth with Mouse and Tracer when Matrix and Andraia arrived. Dot waved them over and had Cecil bring them something to eat. As they ate, Matrix and Andraia caught the glances that darted from sprite to sprite, and it wasn't long before Matrix pushed his plate away.

"Well, that had to be one of the most uncomfortable meals I've ever eaten... so are you going to tell us what it is you want or are we going to get indigestion from the suspense?" Matrix flashed Dot a grin as she blushed, and the other three sprites looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, Matrix.. it's just that... well, could I ask you about that cube we saw this morning?" Bob asked quietly, as if he didn't want anyone to overhear. Matrix looked at Bob as Mouse and Ray exchanged puzzled looks.

Matrix reached up and took the holo-cube out of the belt compartment again and placed it on the table. "We've each got one of these, identical, in case one gets lost." He placed the cube on the table, and the table fell silent as he and Andraia stared at it.

Mouse cleared her throat, making Matrix start. "Well, it's pretty, but what _is_ it?"

"A holo-imager, from - one of the systems we stopped off at. It plays back scenes in holographic displays projected from the top." Matrix squeezed the sides of the cube, but this time he ran a finger across one side in an 'L' pattern. He repeated it on the opposite side, then sat back as an image sprang to life. This time, the playback was much smaller, maybe the size of Dot's organizer, and the volume was muted, so low it almost couldn't be heard. The colors were no less vivid though, and Mouse and Ray stared as the first image of Kylla came up. Matrix tapped the cube again, turning it off before it had played for very long. The table was silent as Matrix played with the cube, rolling it over in his hands.

Mouse glanced from Matrix to Andraia, "I don't believe you two had a kid.. I mean, aren't you two a bit young for that kind of thing?"

Andraia raised an eyebrow at Mouse, "Mouse, before I do something unforgivable to you, let me ask you a question. How long were we gone?"

Mouse shot an uneasy look at Bob and Dot. "Uh.. about a month, all together. Why?"

Matrix smiled grimly and shook his head. Andraia just nodded. "A month - system time. For us, it's been a year. Twelve months of our lives spent looking for a system that as far as we knew, might not even have existed anymore." She looked up at Matrix for a moment, seeming to draw strength from his eyes. "Can you really blame us for wanting to have a place to call home? To have a family again?"

"A family?" Dot shook her head. "You wanted a family, so you took a baby into the games with you? What, Game-hopping wasn't dangerous enough for the two of you already, you had to take a baby into them too?" Matrix, caught off guard for this attack from his sister, stared at Dot as she glared at him. "What in the Net were you thinking?"

Bob frowned at Matrix as well. "You've lived in the Games, why would you take a baby into them with you? I know you were always a bit reckless, but-"

"_WHAT_?" Matrix slammed his hands down on the table top. "I don't believe this! You think we took Kylla traveling with us and we got her killed? Is that it?" Andraia stared at Dot in horror, betrayal plain on her face.

"Do you really think we would be so _stupid_? Think about it - it had been almost a **year**. We were planning to **stay** in Syndara; we had made a home there, and we had no reason to leave." Andraia looked from Dot to Bob, trying to make them listen. "Can you understand that? We didn't kill Kylla, a virus did... that was the reason we left Syndara, we couldn't stay there, not after she died. And after we deleted the virus, there was no need for us to stay there anymore. We didn't kill her!" Andraia's voice broke as tears started to to fall from her eyes again, and her gaze flickered from face to unforgiving face desperately.

Mouse, seeing the states Andraia was in, put out a restraining hand to Bob and Dot. "Now wait just a nano, boys and girls, don't you think you're taking this-"

Matrix shoved himself out of the booth, pulling Andraia up with him. She didn't resist, she had the idea she knew what Matrix was about to do, and even though she was uneasy, she didn't pull away. "Let's go, Andraia." The two headed for the door, and Dot recovered enough to call out to him.

"Matrix - wait!"

He ignored her and left the Diner.

The four sprites scrambled out the door, and exited in time to see Matrix and Andraia get on their zipboards.

"Matrix, wait! What do you think you're doing!?" Bob frowned, puzzled at what seemed to him to be irrational behavior. "Will you come back here and talk to us?"

Matrix swung his board around, glaring at Bob and his sister. "No. I will NOT stay here and be accused of killing my own daughter. You never even asked what happened, Bob. Didn't you hear what Andraia said? We were living in Syndara because we had stopped Game hopping. Do I have to be even plainer? We gave up. Ok? Are you happy now?" Matrix was really mad now, glaring at Bob. Bob looked up at him, shocked.

"**We** - **Gave** - **Up**. All right?" Matrix shook his head in disgust and turned to Andraia. "I guess it's true... you can't go home again. How about we go find ourselves a new home?"

Andraia looked him, her eyes wide, then she smiled. "If you're sure...?"

Matrix grinned. "To quote a much younger you, 'I've never been more sure of anything'. Forget this, let's go home."

As if on cue, the sky darkened and the system voice announced "Warning: Incoming Game." Matrix and Andraia looked up at the Game Cube and smiled.

Bob and Dot looked on in horror as the two started to head towards the Game Cube. "No! You can't!" Dot screamed as she ran after them, and Matrix zipped back long enough to throw something at Dot, then waved and continued towards the descending game. Dot looked down at the object she had caught - it was the holo-cube of Kylla. Dot choked back a sob as she saw the two figures enter the Game's sector.

"Nooo... not again! How can you do this!" Dot screamed at the cube as it landed, sealing the two sprites away from her forever.

Bob wrapped his arms around Dot and looked up at the Cube, filled with shame that he'd even thought Matrix would put a child in danger. "I'm sorry..."

"Game Over." The Game Cube lifted, leaving a perfect sector behind.. and no sign of the two young sprites. When Dot heard the news that no sign of Matrix or Andraia could be found, she bore up well, but when eyewitness accounts came in from binomes who had seen the two dissolve with the Game, she burst into tears again. Bob kept a watch over her, vowing never to leave her, and he hoped that one day, Matrix would come back to Mainframe.. and find Home.


	5. Chapter 5

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 5

"Matrix?"

"..."

"Matrix, are you sure about this? I mean, we're still in the system, we can keep our icons in-"

"No. I'm not staying here.. I don't believe it - Dot _and_ Bob, they both thought I'd been reckless with Ky's life... I just..." Matrix turned, looking at her. The Game was almost over, they were just waiting for the User to run into the booby-traps they'd set. "I just can't stay here anymore... it's not what I thought it would be, and it doesn't - feel right anymore." He sighed, shaking his head. "Besides, what could I possibly do in Mainframe? I don't have the patience for working under anyone else, and I'm totally useless in a business situation."

Andraia hid a chuckle at the thought of Matrix addressing a board meeting; he'd likely take Gun and delete anyone who didn't like his proposals. She glanced down the hallway to check for the User; no sign. She looked back at her partner and smiled. "Useless? Not to me..." She grinned, and he actually blushed. "Although I will admit you don't have the patience for business."

Matrix shrugged and stared down the hallway, his face stony. "I... I'm just afraid that I'll lose control here... You saw what happened on the Mare with the Webriders. What if something like that happens again? I don't think I can live in a system again... I'm too dangerous. I've been on the edge for too long." Matrix clenched his jaw, his eyes sad.

Andraia put a hand on his arm, then rested her head against him. "You're more of a Game Sprite than I am, now... I'm sorry. But we don't have to leave Mainframe you know..." Matrix just looked at her. "You've been looking for it for so long - are you really willing to leave it again?"

Matrix nodded, then tilted his head and frowned. "What do you mean, _I_'ve been looking for it... we both have - haven't we?"

Andraia smiled and patted his arm. "Mainframe was your home, the place you needed to be. My place - was where ever you were. _You_ are my home, and as long as I'm with you, I'll be happy." Matrix was shaken; she really felt like that? He looked at her with a new insight, _he_ was the center of her life, not some nebulous goal or impossible desire. It was him... suddenly he was filled with a rush of love for her, and he wrapped his arms around her body, kissing her deeply. When he finally pulled back, he looked into her luminous eyes and smiled shyly.

"I'm so lucky to have you... Oh, Andraia, I don't know wha-"

***BOOM***

The two of them whipped around as the User set off the first of the traps. They took up firing positions, and tensed. "So... go or stay?" Andraia asked cheekily.

"Go. Our home is here... in the Games. We'll find a way to live here somehow, but Andraia-"

***BOOM*** The second trap went off, the User should be coming around the corner very soon now.

"You're wrong... my home isn't Mainframe anymore.. it's you. And I'll never let you go. I promise." He grinned as they tapped their icons, changing to Game Sprite mode, and he turned back to the hallway. Andraia grinned at his back, happy that he was thinking again, and not just reacting. The User came around the corner and the two sprites opened fire, blasting the User with such force it flew back into the wall. A couple of binomes crept out from hiding places, and watched as Matrix walked up to the prone form of the User. He aimed his weapon at it, and fired. The User couldn't withstand the full force of a point-blank shot and promptly expired.

The binomes cheered the two sprites, and the system announced "Game Over". The cheers turned into cries of horror as they saw the forms of Matrix and Andraia crackle with Game energy, turn semi-transparent, and surge upwards with the Game Cube.

There was a shocked silence from the watchers, and a call was hurriedly put through to the Principle Office.

********

Bob was worried. Dot had broken down and cried when news of Matrix and Andraia had come in, but she was now acting as if she wasn't affected. She shrugged off his attempts to talk with a wave of the hand and an "I'm too busy right now", but he knew she was hurting. Mouse had even taken him aside to let him know that she'd seen Dot act this way before.

"At first, when you were gone, this was how she acted. Like she didn't care, as if by ignoring it, it didn't exist. I gotta tell you Bob, I lost count of how many times I saw her cry when someone mentioned you. This ain't normal, keeping all her emotions inside. It's just not healthy. Especially not for the . You've _got_ to talk to her." Bob had agreed, but he could never seem to get her in one place long enough to listen to him.

********

The Game this time was in the form of an obscure puzzle, and Matrix hated it with a passion. "Aww... not this one again! What are the Users thinking of when they come up with games like this?"

Andraia chuckled, "Maybe it's some form of device to test for randomness."

Matrix looked at her with a grin. "Nah.. _all_ the Users are random."

"Maybe.. but do they know that?" The two of them laughed as they began the game; it had been 12 hours of Game-time since they'd left Mainframe, and hundreds of systems had gone by. Sometimes they stopped, most times they didn't; there was no hurry, they weren't looking for anything, and they knew it. Matrix was much more relaxed, he smiled and laughed more then he'd ever done, and Andraia was happier for it.

********

"Bob, you must talk to her. She may be the , but even she needs rest." Phong steepled his fingers and looked at Bob. The two stood outside Dot's office in the main control room, and they turned as the door slid open and Nig walked out.

"Yes, Sir, I'll get those reports to you right away, er, ma'am." Nig stepped around Bob and Phong without looking up from his organizer as he made his way back to his post.

"That's it - Phong, can you make sure no more reports make it in to her while I'm inside? If I'm going to get through to her I'll need to have no distractions." Phong nodded and started tapping at a panel while Bob strode over to the office door. He paused, took a deep breath, and entered.

********

Dot sat at her desk, surrounded by reports and VidWindows, charts and graphs as she masterminded the running of the system. She didn't look up as the door closed behind Bob, just mumbled "Put it in the tray, I'll get to it in a nano."

"No." Dot started as Bob reached over and minimized the window she was working on, then protested sharply when he started doing the same to the others.

"Bob! Please, I don't have the time right now.... this will have to wait."

"It can't." Dot looked up in amazement at Bob's no-nonsense tone. His brown eyes stared into hers, unwavering, and she relented.

"All right, just let me put things on hold here."

Bob nodded and sat on the edge of the desk as she closed windows and charts. Dot found herself distracted by his nearness, how long had she been working, anyway? She finished and turned back to him only to find that he'd been watching her closely.

"Dot..." Bob reached out and took her hand, holding it tightly. "Dot, you have to start getting over this. You still have a life to live here, you can't ignore the rest of us just because Matrix left. It was his choice to go-" Dot shook her head violently.

"No, it wasn't. He left because we didn't believe him - because **I** didn't believe him." Dot got up, shaking her hand loose from Bob's and walked to the far wall. "Did you see his face when I asked him how he could have taken Kylla into the Games?" She spun around and gazed beseechingly at Bob. "I betrayed him... just as I did when he was small. Back then I betrayed him by not believing he could protect us; this time I betrayed him by not believing he'd care for those he loved." She walked back to her chair and sat down, rubbing her eyes. "Maybe he was right to leave... we weren't his family anymore. Andraia is."

Bob shook his head. "Dot, it doesn't matter right now wether Matrix was right to leave or not, he is an adult, and he and Andraia can take care of themselves. You, on the other hand, apparently can't." Dot looked up at him and frowned.

"And just what is _tha_t supposed to mean?"

"Dot Matrix..." Bob took a deep breath and met her eyes, crossed his fingers mentally, and said the words he'd been dreaming of since he returned from the Web. "Will you marry me?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Legacy"

Part 6

"Duck!"

The ground shook as an explosion rocked the complex, and Andraia shook dust and grit out of her hair as half the wall caved in.

"Matrix! We've got to get out of here! The User's right across the way!" She turned and shot another time-release grenade through the window as Matrix scouted out the hallway.

"Andraia - over here! I've found a tunnel that goes to the User's base... but it's all under water! I can hold him here if-"

"Great, I'll go through and take his flag... then we can end this thing!" Matrix switched positions with Andraia, and he pointed his much heavier guns out the window and started firing at the User. Andraia slipped out the doorway and made her way to the tunnel. In barely a nano she had made it to the enemy base, her scout game-format allowing her to outrun the User's allies. Her weapons were next to useless, but her speed was her greatest asset in this game. She saw the User's flag in front of her even as she felt the building rock from the explosions above. 'Matrix sure knows how to handle the heavy weapons...' She touched the User's flag and heard the magic words "Game Over" rumble through the cube. When it had lifted, she saw Matrix not too far away and ran to meet him.

"I hope that's the last time we see that game. Nothing but the same one, played over and over and *over*! Gah.. I *hate* Quake!" Matrix grumbled. Andraia laughed as she turned to look at the new system they were in.

"Hmm.. this looks like a nice place..." Andraia smiled as she took in their surroundings. "It's pretty... looks like a place I could call home."

It had been 2 months Game-time since they had left Mainframe.

Sprites and binomes cheered as Bob slipped the ring onto Dot's finger, and they yelled even louder as the couple kissed. Turbo had come from the SuperComputer for the marriage ceremony, and he stood next to Mouse and Ray who were watching the crowd. The two wanderers had also returned when they had heard of the impending wedding of the Net's savior.

"So, uh, Mouse... no hard feelings?" Turbo smiled sheepishly at the mercenary. Mouse arched an elegant eyebrow at him.

"Give me one good reason why I should forgive you Turbo.. and don't give me that 'I was infected at the time' spam." Ray looked from Mouse to Turbo and back again, then smiled. He knew Mouse pretty well by this time, and he could tell she was trying to get something from the Guardian. The only questions was, what.

Turbo sighed and shook his head. "I don't know... Maybe you should ask Matrix, he might be able to tell you his reasons."

"WHAT??" Both Mouse and Ray practically pounced on Turbo. "You've heard from Matrix?" Mouse asked breathlessly, "Where is he?"

"You mean... you didn't know?" Turbo watched as Bob and Dot walked over to them, grinning like fools. "Dot, is it true you don't know where your brother is?"

The new couple froze in shock, then Dot practically lunged forwards. "Where is he? Do you know? Are they all right? When-"

Turbo put up his hands trying to fend her off. "Whoa there... all I know is that I've been getting reports from hundreds of systems across the Net about a non-conforming Guardian and an aquatic Sprite who come and go with the Games. I thought you had known or I would've sent word minutes ago. I wasn't really sure at first, but taking into account how they'd look as they age... it has to be them. I'm warning you though, from the reports, they've aged quite a bit."

"WHAT?" All four sprites stared at the Prime Guardian.

"Game time is faster than-"

"Yes, we know that..." Dot interrupted. ""How old are they? How long has it been for them?"

Turbo took a deep breath before replying. "It looks.. like they're older then Bob now." He looked from Dot to Bob. "It's been a while for them. Quite a while..."

The young couple walked the quiet paths of a city park as the system switched from day to night; they strolled beside a small lake, and settled on a bench overlooking the water. Three months of Game travel had let them see a lot more systems, but every one was still unique. This one was especially beautiful. Even here, in an empty park, the sounds of this system's largest festival could be heard. Fireworks were being set off over the Principle Office, lighting the night sky with explosions of color as the shift to night proclaimed the beginning of the party. Andraia shifted in Matrix's arms, sighing contentedly as they watched the display.

"Andraia?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't know what I'd do without you..."

"Oh, you'd get by. Somehow..."

Matrix shook his head. "I don't think so. I love you too much. Do you know that I can't remember a time when we weren't together? I've spent more then half of my life with you, and one thing that life has taught me is that I'd have been deleted a long time ago without you to watch over me."

Andraia giggled. "You make me sound like a nurse or something. 'Watch over you'..."

He shook his head again, more forcefully this time. "I mean it Andraia. Without you to balance me, I'm nothing. I know you'll always be there to back me up, just as I know you'll never hesitate to tell me when I'm wrong. I never want to have to do without you."

She blinked up at the serious look on his face, then pulled herself off his lap and sat beside him. There was something he was trying to tell her...

He took a deep breath and reached into a compartment on his shoulder belt. He took something small and glittering out and held it in his hand, "I found this when the User ReBooted the system, it'd been lost in Megabyte's attack." He held out a small amethyst pendant hanging from a black velvet choker. "It was my mother's. I can remember, back when I was very small, that I had loved to play with it. When she was nullified in a Game, both dad and Dot said I should keep it, and that she would have wanted me to have it. I've always kept it safe, I had figured that there might one day be another woman I'd want to see wearing it."

Andraia looked at the pendant, in awe at its beauty; it seemed to catch every sparkling of color in the sky and reflect them back at her. She tore her eyes away and gazed up at Matrix; he was watching her every move nervously. She caught her breath as his words sank in, and she realized just what it was that had him so nervous. He licked his lips and took a deep breath.

"Andraia... will you marry me? I don't want to imagine being without you, and I want you to know that I'll never leave you."

She looked at the pendant again, noticing it was shaking, and she realized that Matrix was trembling slightly.

"Matrix?"

"Yes?" Even his voice was shaking. She shook her head, smiling.

"Yes."


	7. Chapter 7

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 7

"His name?"

"Keevan Matrix."

"Welcome to Aragon, Keevan Matrix..."

Matrix and Andraia looked at each other and smiled. This time it would be different. It had been 4 months Game-time since they had left Mainframe, and they had never looked back. Matrix held his newborn son and felt pure joy; so much joy the only thing keeping him from shouting it aloud was that it would scare Keevan.

The two of them had stayed in the Games until just recently, and they had only come out when Andraia had admitted that she believed it would be safer for the baby to be born in a system. They had stopped here, and settled temporarily in an apartment, Matrix playing the system's Games as Andraia stayed behind. Neither of them were happy at being away from each other, however, Andraia had to admit that carrying a newborn child would be dangerous enough, she didn't really want to try having the child in a Game. The two of them were determined to return to the Games as soon as Keevan could handle the code change to Game Sprite.

Andraia grinned at Matrix's look even as she added the new codes to Keevan's icon; she had been worried once, a long time ago, about what kind of a father Matrix would make. Matrix as he had been wouldn't have made a good father, but having a child had changed him in ways she hadn't imagined. The tenderness and gentleness he'd shown only to her in their intimate moments had bloomed and grown, and she no longer had any doubts as to his parenting ability.

Andraia finished her task and let the system's present Keevan with his icon. She slipped her arm around Matrix's waist, and watched their son become a registered sprite.

They walked out of the Principle Office a short while later, into the bright light of day. The system was busy, but Matrix and Andraia were able to catch a transport to the business sector of the city. Andraia had insisted she pick up the carrysac she'd ordered made for Keevan. It was of a special cloth, tough but lined with a soft layer, and it had a hood that could be pulled up over the baby's head. The material was breathable too, and it was possible to seal Keevan up inside it entirely in case of an attack. She paid for it and thanked the binome, then slipped it on over her shoulders. Matrix bounced Keevan in his arms, ruffling the baby's green hair.

"Are you sure he'll fit in that?"

"Enzo, I had it measured so that it will fit him now and as he gets older. I'll probably be carrying him around in this for a while, so the sooner I get used to it, the better. Put him in, will you?" She turned and Matrix slipped Keevan into the carrysac, leaving the top open so he could see out.

Matrix frowned a bit as Andraia shifted Keevan's weight. She tightened the straps so it was snug, then twirled in place. Keevan's eyes widened and he shrieked with laughter, but he never moved.

"I should get one of those too..." he muttered.

Andraia smiled and pulled another one out of the shopping bag. "I had this one sized so you can wear it. After all, I can carry one kid, but you'll have to carry the next one."

Matrix lifted his eyebrows and grinned. "Oh, planning for more so soon?"

Andraia laughed, then pulled his head down and kissed him. "If you think I'm going to stop at one, you're sadly mistaken..."

"Warning: Incoming Game." All three of them looked up at the darkening sky as the Game Cube started entering the system.

"Well... I guess we're going to get our chance to test Keevan's new icon." Matrix's voice shook a bit; he hadn't forgotten Dot's accusation. Andraia squeezed his hand and smiled.

"It'll be ok, lover. This time, everything will be ok."

The Game Cube landed with a crash, sealing them inside.

********

"Her name?"

"Lyra Matrix."

"Welcome to Dethorn, Lyra Matrix..." The two sprites smiled; Matrix held the baby and Andraia the hand of a young green-haired boy.

"Say hello to your sister, Keevan." Matrix knelt down on one knee so Keevan could see his new sister. The boy reached out a hand and smiled as Lyra grabbed his finger in a strong grip. She opened her dark blue eyes and looked up at him, not making a sound. Keevan just stared at her, then grinned.

"Lyra?"

The little girl waved her fists, tugging Keevan's finger back and forth. Stung, he pulled it out as she started to cry. Matrix and Andraia shook their heads, grinning at their children. They looked back down though as Lyra's crying stopped suddenly. Keevan had put his hand over her mouth, and she blinked her big blue eyes at him, puzzled. He took his hand away even as Andraia pulled him back from his sister.

"What did you do that for?" Matrix wasn't sure if he should be angry or not, he as just as puzzled as Lyra was.

"She's gotta be quiet..." Keevan mumbled.

"But why, honey?" Andraia knelt down too, looking at Keevan's serious face.

"'Cause you always tell me to be quiet when a Game comes, so she's gotta be quiet too." Keevan said it as if they should have known this, and they were teasing him.

Matrix looked at Andraia, and opened his mouth to speak when-

"Warning: Incoming Game. Warning: Incoming Game." The system voice sounded throughout the Principle Office, shocking everyone inside it into action. For the young couple, however, it meant something different.

"Keevan... how did you know the Game was coming?"

"Felt it." Keevan looked up at his father and bit his lip, the way he always did when he'd done something he wasn't supposed to.

"You felt it? How? What-"

"Matrix! We don't have time right now, not if we want to get into this game. We'll talk about this later. But Keevan, darling," Andraia hugged him, then stood. "Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong. In fact, you've done something very right..."

Keevan looked up at his parents, wanting to make sure his dad wasn't angry. He watched as Lyra was slipped into his mom's carrysac, then let himself be lifted into the one on his dad's back. As they zipped out of the building towards the descending Cube, he poked his dad's shoulder.

"Hmm? What is it son?" Matrix glanced back over his shoulder so he could see Keevan's worried eyes.

"Are.. are you mad at me?" Purple eyes glistened with tears, just waiting to fall.

"Mad - no! Why in the Net would I be mad? You've just made me _very_ happy, kiddo... very happy indeed..." Keevan's face brightened as Matrix smiled, and continued. "And if there's anything else you know that I don't, you can tell me too. This way, you get to be the teacher."

Keevan wrinkled his nose and Matrix laughed. One of the things Keevan hated was the daily exercises in speed and agility, and he'd do anything to get out of them. The thought of getting to teach his dad something made Keevan smile; he thought that sensing Games was all Keevan could do? Wouldn't he be surprised...

They entered the Game's sector, and Keevan felt the now familiar tingle of Game energy tingle through him, as the Cube lowered. Lyra was looking around, eyes wide at the sights and sounds, and Keevan laughed, clapping his hands. Lyra's eyes darted to him, and she laughed too. Matrix glanced at Andraia, their children's laughter spreading to them, and they ReBooted into their Game characters.

Lyra squealed as she felt the Game change her codes for the first time, and Keevan smiled as he changed a bit more as well. Yup, Dad was gonna be so surprised...

It had been 6 months Game-time since they had left Mainframe.

********

"Their names?"

"Dixon Matrix, the boy, and Kylla Matrix, the girl." Bob and Dot held their children, smiling at each other as Phong fixed the icons to the children's jumpsuits. "Welcome to Mainframe, children. May you live long and happy lives here in the Net."

Dot's smile flickered as she remembered another ceremony much like the one Phong had just completed, a ceremony for a little girl she had never known. Then Kylla gurgled, waving her tiny fists in the air, and Dot's smile bloomed again. Time to let things be...

It had been a month system time since Matrix and Andraia had left Mainframe.

********

The Game cube rose, startling sprites and binomes. Had they lost so quickly? There'd hardly been enough time to get half the people out of the surrounding sectors! People started to panic, then it gradually stopped. The system voice had announced "Game Over", but not "User Wins". What had happened? The binome in charge of the evacuation, a One named Drago, turned and stared in shock at a group of people who stood where no one had stood before.

Four strange Sprites stood in the street where the Cube had been. Two adults and two young children, and two even younger children on the backs of the adults, sitting in some sort of backpack. The male Sprite was tall and green skinned with short black hair, and a golden eye. He carried a gun on his hip, and a baby on his back. He grinned, as if daring anyone to say a word about the cute image he made.

The female Sprite was lean, peach-colored with long blue-green hair, and she was also carrying a child. She had what appeared to be fins on her arms and legs, and she walked sinuously, as if her very bones were flexible.

The children seemed to be a mix of the elder sprites, having green skin and long blue-green hair, and Drago noticed that they did indeed have fins as well. The oldest was a boy, the younger a girl, and he guessed their ages to be about 7 and 5 months, respectively.

The male sprite stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Hello there, my name is Matrix..."

It had been a 11 months, Game-time, since Matrix and Andraia had left Mainframe.

********

Dot smiled and thanked Phong as he entered the office to take over for the evening. Dot turned as Bob entered the office, giving her a kiss before picking up one of the children from their playpen. Bob twirled Kylla around in the air as Dot reached down and got Dixon. The couple walked out of the Principal Office holding their children, headed for home. It had been 2 months, system time, since Matrix and Andraia had left Mainframe.

"Warning: Incoming Game."

Bob looked up at the sky as the cube descended and handed Kylla to Dot. She took the children and headed back towards the Principle Office to make sure she stayed clear of the game. Bob stood underneath the cube as it descended, watching Dot until the Cube sealed him off from her.

********

"ReBoot!"

Bob looked around. He was in a dark creepy dungeon, and he was surrounded by Game Sprites. He had ReBooted into a Minotaur, a bull-like creature armed with a bow. None of the sprites made any move to leave the room even though the door was right in front of them, and Bob had an uneasy feeling. With all of them bunched up, it would be no problem for the User to destroy them all at once. Bob crept to the door and opened it; he looked back at the room - none of the Game Sprites had made any sort of move. He heard a number of explosions down the hallway and he made his way towards them, bow strung and ready to fire. He peeked around the corner... and saw it.

A even larger bull-like creature armed with a cleaver hacked repeatedly at a bow-wielding woman. The woman had apparently made the mistake of getting in too close to use her bow effectively. Bob winced as blood flew with every strike of the cleaver, until finally she collapsed.

"Game Over."

Bob blinked. There was a sprite standing in front of him where the bull-creature had been. The Sprite spun as if he had sensed someone behind him, and Bob felt his jaw drop. The light sparkled on the fins that jutted from the stranger's arms and legs. He faced Bob with a grin, his purple eyes shining in his green-skinned face, his long blue-green hair tied back in a pony tail.

"I am Guardian 452 of System Mainframe.. state your name and function," Bob managed to stammer out. 'Could this be...?' Bob could see Dot in the distance, heading his way.

"This is Mainframe? And you'd be... Bob?" The sprite's voice was melodic, and something about the way the sprite looked at him made Bob relax. Bob nodded, confirming the sprite's questions. "My name is Keevan. My format?" Keevan shrugged. "I'm a Game Player, I travel to systems through the games, making sure lives aren't lost just because they don't have a system Guardian."

Dot had arrived by that time, and as she pulled up her zipboard behind Bob, she got her first good look at Keevan. "Oh my..."

Keevan looked at her and a smile blossomed on his face. "Don't tell me.. you're my Aunt Dot, right?"

Bob and Dot stared in shock as Keevan looked around him, smiling. "Mainframe... It looks just like dad said it did..."

"_DAD_?" Bob and Dot stared at each other as Keevan flashed them another grin.

"You mean... your father... is Matrix?" Dot couldn't believe it; she had a nephew, and he was almost as old as she was!

Keevan laughed. "You sound so hesitant! Yes, my father's name is Matrix, Enzo Matrix. My mother's name is Andraia, and while he was a system sprite, she was a Game sprite from the beginning. They lived here in Mainframe until they were trapped in a Game they couldn't win, causing them to change format to Game mode and travel through the Games trying to find their way back here." He smiled crookedly. "Is that enough proof?" Dot came forward to stand beside Bob, and Keevan got his first look at the children.

"Oh... they're precious! Yours?" He looked up, his purple eyes dancing with delight as he reached one hand out to brush Kylla's silver-green hair. She opened her brown eyes and stared at him, and he laughed as her tiny brows furrowed. "May I...?" He glanced up at Dot, then at Bob, and his grin spread as Dot nodded. Keevan reached out and carefully took the baby into his arms, cuddling her. Bob and Dot shared a smile; Keevan appeared smitten! "She's adorable... what's her name?"

"Kylla Matrix... and this is Dixon Matrix." Dot shifted Dixon so he could see Keevan too, and Dixon pouted as he noticed that Kylla was getting more attention than he was. Keevan laughed and ran one finger down Dixon's nose, making the baby go cross-eyed for a moment. Dot glanced at Bob over Keevan's head and nodded towards the Principle Office. Bob got out his zipboard.

"Why not come to the Principle Office... we'd like to pick your brain about Matrix and what he's been up to... or would you like to rest or have something to eat first?" Keevan glanced up from Kylla.

"I'm fine... and I'd love to talk about my dad... one thing is for certain, there's a lot to tell!" Keevan reached behind him and pulled a loose fold of his iridescent shirt out from his side. He then apparently tucked Kylla _inside_ this fold, and Dot's eyes widened as he let go of the baby. Dot relaxed as she saw Kylla's head pop up over Keevan's shoulder - the youth saw her worried look and smiled.

"It a carry-sac... we all wear them, and they're made for carrying babies. Don't worry, she'll be fine." He flipped out a zipboard as Bob and Dot glanced at each other. Keevan rose into the air as he continued, "This sac is armored too, believe me, I've trusted my own children to this little pouch, I'm sure she'll love it as much as they do." Bob almost fell off his board.

"_YOUR_ children?" Bob almost choked, and his eyes widened as he stared at the younger man. Keevan laughed at Bob's expression.

"Yes, I have children; two in fact." He shrugged, "I decided to start early... believe me, if you could see Sentra, you'd understand." He smiled and blinked lazily, "The eldest is named Rodin, a boy, and Rahne, the younger girl."

The group headed towards the Principle Office, and true to Keevan's word, Kylla shrieked with laughter as she flew through the air on Keevan's back. Keevan winced at the volume, but shook his head and grinned.

"So you've got two children already..." Dot mused as they flew towards the hub of the system.

"Well, two that lived." Keevan's voice held sorrow, and a quick glance at his face told Bob that there had indeed been more children once. Dot shared a worried look with Bob, then fell silent for the rest of the journey to the Principle Office.


	8. Chapter 8

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after. In case these first seven chapters seem a little rushed, it's because I wrote them one a day for a week, in between school, work, and general housekeeping stuff while my mom was out of town.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 8

The sprites arrived at the Principle Office and walked into the command post. Dot and Bob entered first, surprising Phong.

"Dot? Bob? Is there something the matter? Why-" Phong stopped as Keevan walked in. Keevan stepped in warily, glancing from side to side as he entered the room. His eyes swept over the command post, searching for possible dangers, and he visibly relaxed as he found none. Phong blinked a few times, then glanced at Dot.

Dot started to introduce him. "Phong, this is Keevan, Keevan Matrix. He's a Game Player-"

"Yup, eldest of them all. I'm only here for a bit though, as soon as the next Game drops, I'll be off again. This place certainly doesn't need me! Not with my uncle here..." Keevan tugged Kylla loose from the backpack and placed her on the floor. The little girl looked up at him for a moment and grinned, then stuck her fingers in her mouth and toddled over to her father.

Phong stared at Keevan as he put Kylla down, then glanced over at Dot and Bob. Dot nodded sadly, and Phong turned back to Keevan.

"You are the son of Enzo Matrix?" Phong summoned a VidWindow listing PIDs, and asked, "Would you mind if I added you to the Matrix family listing?"

Keevan smiled and nodded, a bit surprised. "Sure... but if you want, I could summon a Chronicler and get a full family listing for you. It would include the original children, foster children, added Players, and grandchildren. I could even get you a listing of Companions and dependant systems, although that would take an Archivist, not just a Chronicler." Phong stared in shock, as did Bob and Dot. Keevan looked up at their faces and laughed.

"A Chronicler plays the Games purely for travel, and to discover as many new systems and Games as possible. They then meet up with an Archivist at certain times and download all their new data to them. They also get the newest information that the other Chroniclers have amassed so they can spread that to other Players." Keevan explained, but from the blank looks on his relatives faces, they weren't adjusting very well.

"Um, Keevan, just how many 'Players' are there?" Bob was confused by the term Keevan had used, he'd never heard of Chroniclers before. Archivists, yes, but the ones he knew of were apparently different from the ones Keevan spoke of.

Keevan blinked. "Oh, um, well, there's mom and dad, myself, Lyra, Dana and Drake, Jame and Tanis, and Rothan; then there's my kids, Rodin and Rahne, and Lyra's, Zenner and Torah. Then there's all the... What?" Keevan stopped as he saw the look on the faces of his uncle and aunt. "What???"

Phong blinked as well, but recovered faster then the sprites. "Go on, my son. Please, continue." Keevan blinked, a bit uncertain, then shrugged and continued.

"Then there are the Companions; they're the people who've joined us as Players. We usually travel in groups of three, I'm, ah, bending the rules right now, but I'm on my way to meet my wife, so I figure dad might overlook it." Keevan looked uncertain, and bit his lip, then sighed. "Well, hopefully he won't be _too_ mad... it's not like I left my group understrength or anything." Keevan shook his head, then resumed. "Companions are usually the odd ones out in the systems we visit, and before we let them join, we make sure they know that once they do join, there's no going back. Sentra started as one of the first Companions, and she's now a Player."

Seeing more blank looks, he sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. The light flashed off his fins, reflecting the light over the room.

"Players take active roles in the games, Companions usually just observe and learn. It's a fine line between the two, but mom and dad are the ones that decide when a Companion has become a Player by testing them against themselves. If they do all right against those two, they're granted the rights of Players, namely, to form their own team and go into the games. A sprite is usually a Companion for about a month Game time before becoming a Player, or they can hook up with an Archivist and spend some time as a Chronicler." Keevan straightened and walked over to the rail, then turned to lean against it.

"Life in the Games is different then it is in a system - there's none of this... no specific place to live in and no constant food source, but there are always plenty of things to do. Well, at least there are plenty of interesting people to meet." Keevan smiled at the understatement, then pushed himself up off the rail and took a step towards the door. "Anyway, I prob-"

"Hey there, Dot honey!" The main doors snapped open and Mouse ran through, narrowly missing slamming into the wall. "I don't suppose- Aaah!"

Keevan had reacted with his Game-borne instincts at the interruption, and had snapped into attack mode before the doors had finished opening. He took three running steps and launched himself into the air, landing lightly behind Mouse. He wrapped his right arm around her throat, flicked open the spines on his left hand and held them a few micros away from Mouse's left eye. Mouse stopped struggling as she recognized her danger, and froze.

"You have ten milliseconds to tell me who you are before I make the rest of your life a living hell." Keevan's voice was harsh and grating, and his arm never even trembled, even when another sprite flew in the open door beside him. It was Ray, and he walked in carrying his surfboard, then stopped when he saw Mouse and Keevan. It had all happened so quickly Bob had hardly had enough time to take a step forward. Even so, he wasn't fast enough to stop Ray from firing off a blast of energy at Keevan. Mouse's eyes widened as the energy blast flew towards her, and she let out an undignified squeak as Keevan held her fast. He extended the fins on his left arm and held it out like a shield. The bolt struck Keevan's arm... and was absorbed. Keevan's purple eyes glowed as energy rushed through him, then quickly faded back to normal. He grinned wolfishly at the shocked look on Ray's face and raised his spines to Mouse's face again.

"Now... your name."

"Keevan.. it's Mouse! For User's sake, let her go!" Bob stepped in front of Ray, holding him back from lunging at Keevan.

"Mouse?" Keevan frowned and retracted his spines. "Mouse the Hacker?" Keevan loosened his grip and took another look at his hostage. Magenta skin, hair the color of flame, the armor and the sword... "Oh, sorry." He released her and stepped back as Mouse spun away from him and grasped the handle of her sword. That was as far as she got however, because by that time she had gotten a good look at Keevan.

"Oh... my..." Mouse looked him up and down, and Keevan's smile grew into a grin as he underwent her scrutiny. He'd been looked over like that too often not to know what was going through Mouse's mind at that moment, and his grin widened as he looked Mouse over in turn.

"Well, do I pass?" Keevan's tone was teasing, and Mouse snapped her eyes up to meet his and stared.

"Oh yeah.. Um, I mean-" Mouse shook her head and blushed as Dot stepped forward and cleared her throat. Mouse shot a thankful glance at Dot as Ray grabbed her arm and whispered, "Are you all right? Why in the net did he do that? And who is he?" Mouse looked up into Ray's face and saw the worry for her there. Mouse felt ashamed at her once-over of the strange sprite, especially when she had Ray. He'd been so good to her over the past few months, and what had she given him? Suddenly Mouse slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Ray raised his eyebrows and smiled, relieved at her sudden possessiveness.

Dot cleared her throat, drawing Mouse and Ray's attention again. Keevan grinned openly at Mouse, his eyes filled with laughter, and she wondered if he came from the same Game that Andraia had... then she noticed his eye color and height, and the shape of his face, and thought, 'No... it can't be!'

Mouse felt her knees weaken as she stared at Keevan's face, and he looked back at her steadily, his mood becoming more serious as she realized who he was. The laughter was still in his eyes though, and Mouse turned to Dot as the started to speak.

"Mouse, Ray, I'd like you to meet my nephew, Keevan Matrix. Keevan, this is Mouse and Ray Tracer, the Websurfer."

Ray's jaw dropped and Mouse nodded.

"Nephew? Then.. that means..." Ray was stunned, this guy was Dot's nephew and Mouse had nearly been killed because of his quick reflexes... "Matrix is back?"

"No, my father isn't back, and he won't be back unless he's invited." Keevan turned looked at Mouse and said, "I'm sorry for not recognizing you immediately, but I wasn't expecting you to show up, and certainly not like that! I'm truly sorry for causing you any fright, it was not my intention. My priority at the time was to protect the children."

Mouse nodded again, still shaken by the fact that Matrix and Andraia had survived and had a son, and that their son was now a very handsome young man. "Wait a nano.. he won't come here unless he's invited? What do you mean by that?"

"When my parents left Mainframe it was because of a disagreement, or so my father said. They weren't welcome here anymore because of what they had become, so they left. My mother said it was her fault because she'd made dad a Game Sprite, but I don't really believe her... he's so different from any other system sprite I've ever met, it's hard to believe he ever was one. Anyway, they say they're always looking for a place to stay, but I've never known them to stay in a system for longer then the time between two Games. Most of the time, they just stay inside the Games and live there. Mom did tell me once that Mainframe was the only place they'd ever been able to relax in though, and I know they'd both love to come back." Keevan sighed and shook his head.

"He won't agree to visit, and he never told any of us where Mainframe was, he said that if we ever ran across it on our own, we could do what we wanted. So here I am, and I'd like to know if I can call the others here, so mom and dad can see their home again." Keevan stood and waited, glancing from Bob to Dot, watching as they absorbed what he'd said. Suddenly he looked very young, and the pleading look on his face revealed his youth. "Please? I know they'd want to see Mainframe again; Dad would never admit it, but he misses his home system. Please?"

Dot blinked tears back and smiled shakily at Bob before turning to Keevan. "Of course... what do you need to get a hold of them, and how long will it take for them to get here?"

Keevan let out a sigh of relief and grinned, and suddenly his cocky charm was back. "All I need is one Game to send the message, and another for them to get here in. As for when I can send the message..." Keevan squeezed his eyes shut and tilted his head while he bit his lip for a moment. "Your next Game will be in about 35 nanoseconds, and it looks like it'll be a fairly simple one, which means I can send the message to more Players at once. If we're lucky, we might get some arriving before the Game leaves, but I can guarantee mom and dad won't be here until the next one, at least." He opened his eyes and looked into the skeptical faces of every sprite and binome in the entire room. Keevan sighed.

"Look, trust me on this. It's my job, I know what I'm doing. I'm not a system sprite, a web sprite, or even a Game sprite.. I'm a Player. You've never met a Player before and you have no idea what I can do yet. Heh.. you think I'm fast? Wait till you see dad, he moves so fast he's not even a blur."

Bob coughed lightly and stepped forward, "Sorry Keevan, it's just that, well, you're so young..."

Keevan laughed. "Bob... uncle, I'm 24 months old. I have a wife and 2 living children, I've been rated as a Player since I was a year old, and other then my parents, there isn't any other person who knows the Games as well as I do. Besides, there are things I can do that even my parents can't." Keevan shrugged. "It has to do with the fact that I started playing Games right after I got my icon."

Keevan didn't miss the looks that flickered between his aunt and uncle, and he frowned; he was starting to get annoyed.

"Look, you want me to prove it to you?" Keevan straightened and pushed himself off the wall, looked Bob square in the eye and tapped his icon once, "Game Mode: Retrieve. Quake."

Dot gasped as Keevan was enveloped in a shimmering column of Game energy. It swirled around him, then faded, leaving behind a figure in massive armor, armed with enough firepower to take out Silicon Tor in its height. The faceplate slid up and Keevan stared out at them, a smile playing around his lips.

"Now do you believe me?"


	9. Chapter 9

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 9

Keevan tapped his icon once more, and when the swirling energy released him, had returned to his normal outfit. He grinned openly at the expressions on their faces, then straightened and looked at the door. The others turned as well, wondering what it was Keevan had heard when the door slid open and a young sprite with a dog beside him walked in. The youth was dressed in a Guardian's uniform and stopped dead when he saw Keevan.

Keevan sucked in a breath, his eyes wide as he met the astonished gaze of young Enzo Matrix. Frisket sniffed the air and stared at Keevan, trying to figure out who he was. Keevan carefully froze as Frisket stepped forward and circled him, sniffing. Frisket blinked, then jumped on Keevan, licking his face. Keevan laughed and tried to push him away, but wasn't having much luck.

"You're back! How's life at the Academy?" Enzo blinked, a bit jealous of Frisket's treatment of a stranger, then smiled at his sister.

"Fine, sis, it's going great! Prime Turbo decided to let me come back for the reunion, he'll be coming too in a little while, he just needed to prepare a bit." Enzo looked up at Bob and grinned. "Yeah, and I'm in the top 2% of my classes too... Turbo is _quite_ happy about that. He's suggested I go for the advanced courses next term, and I think I'll do it."

Bob raised his eyebrows in surprise, he knew Enzo was doing good at the Academy, but he didn't know he was doing _that_ good. "That's great! Way to go Enzo! And before you know it, you'll have graduated and be running one of the Net ports of the SuperComputer. And maybe, one day, become a system Guardian."

Dot looked at her little brother, he wasn't so little anymore. At 1.5 he had started his growth spurt and was pretty tall. He was still filling out, but he looked more like an acrobat or an athlete then a muscle-bound bruiser. 'Quite unlike his older self...'

Dot shook her head a bit and turned back to Keevan, who had finally convinced Frisket to let him up. Mouse chuckled as he wiped his face a bit, making a face and mock glaring at Frisket as he did so.

"Ick! Dog germs!" Keevan grinned, rubbing his chin and scratching Frisket's head as the big dog wagged his tail. "Oh go on, you, silly thing. Dad told me about you... and it seems you haven't changed at all." Frisket's head turned and he fixed his gaze on Keevan's face. "That's right... so don't try and pull any of your stunts, you." Keevan smiled down at Frisket, missing the puzzled look Enzo shot at him.

"Um.. excuse me.. who _are_ you?"

Keevan looked at the young sprite, once again noting the resemblances and differences to his father. This Enzo Matrix was getting tall, but he wasn't anywhere near as muscular as even Keevan had been at his age. Bob and Dot watched as Keevan faced off with Enzo, both of them wondering how this would end up. Keevan smiled and put out his hand, saying "Hi... my name is Keevan Matrix. I'm.. you're... well..." he looked around the room with a half grin and chuckled. "You.. are the younger version of my father."

Enzo blinked, clearly astonished, but thinking things through. "Then Matrix... um, I mean, my older self... is he ok? Is he here? When did you arrive? How-"

The older sprite grinned and held up his hands, warding off more questions. "Easy... to answer your questions, yes he's fine, no he's not here now, and just a little while ago." Enzo laughed, having no problem sorting out which answers went with which questions. He turned to face Bob and Dot as Keevan stepped up beside him, and they stood side by side for a moment.

Dot was amazed at the resemblance, The eyes were the same, the shape of the jaw, the same grin, the way both of them held one eyebrow slightly higher then the other... if she didn't know they were related, she would have thought they were brothers.

Keevan shook his head and grinned at Dot. "So, Aunt, I have 30 nanos before the next Game arrives.... can I take a look around the system?"

Dot nodded. "Of course-", but before she could say anything more, Enzo broke in.

"I can show him around if you'd like, sis. It's been a while since I was home too. How about it, Keevan?" The older Matrix smiled and shrugged.

"Sure, it's ok with me. Aunt?" Both boys looked at Dot with the eyes of her brother, and she laughed.

"Oh, go ahead. We're still getting things ready, and I've got a million things to do. _But_... I'll be doing them at the Diner, _not_ here. I'm off duty now, and after the mess today has been... Go on, have fun!" Both Keevan and Enzo threw out zipboards and zipped out the door, moving almost as one. Frisket ran after them, barking.

Dot turned to find Bob watching her with a lopsided smile and handed her Denner even as he snagged Aerin again. "Ready for attempt number two?" She chuckled and threw out a zipboard of her own, heading out the door, sensing Bob, Mouse and Ray following.

Far ahead of them they saw two sprites flying high over the city; evidently neither of the boys wanted to waste any time.

********

"So... considering your age, I'd say you live in the Games, not a system, right?" Enzo glanced over at Keevan as they flew over Baudway. Keevan nodded, and Enzo went on. "So how did you get here? What's it like in the Games? I mean, I've played them, but I've always wondered what it would be like to travel through them..."

Keevan grinned. "Ok, well, how about I tell you what it's like as we go through the city, and when we see places you think are important, you can tell me about it." Enzo nodded, and Keevan began.

"Mom changed my icon as soon as I got it, transferred her Game Sprite protocols, that is, and I became a Game Sprite at the same time I became a system sprite, which is why I think I became something new... a Player. I first became aware that I was different when I started to predict the Games... I knew when they would arrive and where they would land. I knew.. but my parents didn't. I thought that they did, but I had no idea that they couldn't feel the same things I felt. I got up the courage to tell them when my sister, Lyra was born-"

"You've got a sister?"

"**A** sister? Frag, yes.. I've got _three_ sisters and two brothers... I would have been two more sisters, but Kylla died before I was born and Megan was lost in a battle with 8 Class Three's... Anyway, after I told mom and dad, they started trying to find out what else I could do... It was pretty neat, actually. Ooooh.. what's that?"

"Oh! Are you hungry? That's the Diner... Dot's first independent business. 'Fastest food in Mainframe'... that's her motto! I think Cecil runs it now though, there's no way Dot has enough time to run it and the rest of the system too. Want an energy shake?" Keevan shrugged and nodded.

"One thing about being a Player, Enzo.. you learn not to pass up food when it's offered. Lead on!"

Enzo laughed and zipped down to the Diner with Keevan following.

********

"Cecil! Can we get two energy shakes to go?" Cecil spun around, waving his arms.

"Ach! The young Matrix boy.. and when did you get back?" Cecil walked over to the two sprites and looked Keevan up and down. He sniffed. "And who is this?"

"My name's Keevan. You're Cecil? The waiter? I've heard about you. But.. have you always had legs? I thought..." Keevan frowned, trying to remember what his dad had told him.

"Hmf.. No, I got them in the last upgrade... Ze Madame made sure they arrived safely. Would you like a table or will you wait at the bar? It won't be long." Cecil turned away without waiting for an answer and Keevan looked at Enzo, puzzled.

"Don't worry, he's always that way... there's a free booth in the corner, why don't we sit down for a bit?" Keevan shrugged and slid into the seat. They barely had time to sit down before Cecil was at the table, handing them their shakes. Kevan blinked, surprised, and looked up to see Enzo grinning.

"I told you it was fast..."

Cecil looked at them and sniffed. "So, how is it that you know about me? I'm sure I've never met you before, although you are somewhat familiar..." Cecil looked Keevan over carefully, and the sprite nodded.

"You've met my parents, Matrix and Andraia? That's who-"

"They are your _parents_?" Cecil took a step back, shocked. "I wasn't sure.. where did they go after they left? Are they- How did-" Cecil shook himself. "I understand why they left, but why didn't they come back after a while? Considering how Madame reacted to their leaving..."

"Wait a nano... you _know_ why they left?" Keevan leaned forward, staring intently at Cecil. "Can you tell me? Please?"

"What do I look like, an archivist? I'm a manager.. not a storyteller!" Cecil grumbled, throwing up his hands and turning away. Keevan seemed ready to pounce on the annoying ex-waiter when suddenly he turned around. Glancing from Enzo to Keevan, Cecil threw his arms in the air and said "Ach.. why not. No one else will tell you. But I was here.. actually, it was in this very establishment where they had their disagreement. Not this booth, but that one, there." Cecil pointed at a table on the other side of the diner, and it's current occupants found themselves the focus of three pairs of eyes, all staring intently at them.

"That is where they sat that morning, and after an excellent meal, which of course," Cecil paused to sniff, remembering Matrix's casual indifference to the wonderfully prepared meal that morning, then continued. "Of course, was not properly appreciated, Matrix pulled out a small object, some sort of cube..."

********

After Cecil had told them the story of Matrix and Andraia's leaving, Enzo and a much-subdued Keevan continued on their short tour of Mainframe.

"So how much time do we have left?"

Keevan peered up at the sky and squinted. "Hmm.. make it... about 10 nanos. I'd better get into position. I have to make sure I'm under the Game and as near to the center of it as I can get." Enzo nodded and followed the older sprite as he zipped towards Kits Sector; apparently the Game would land there.

********

"How long now? Is there anything you need me to do?" Keevan grinned and looked down at Enzo. He was so intense, like his older self, but this version of Matrix was quite bouncy. Keevan found himself grinning at the enthusiasm in the youth's voice, but shook his head.

"Nope, there's nothing you need to do, except make sure no one touches me while I'm making contact... not that you'd want to get near at that point... "He laughed at the puzzlement on Enzo's face, "You'll see. Oh, here they come..." Enzo turned his head to see Bob, Mouse and Ray heading for them. "Just the sprite I wanted to talk to..." Enzo turned back, surprised at the venom in Keevan's voice.

"Keevan! Is the Game going to land here? Dot's at the Diner, getting power stats relayed from the Principle Office, and they're still not picking anything up." Bob got off his zipboard and stepped up to both Matrixes.

Keevan tightened his mouth and narrowed his eyes, then muttered, "It'll be here.. in 8 nanos." His tone was hostile, and a surprise to everyone there.

"Um, Keevan? What's wrong?" Bob was at a loss, what had happened to his nephew? Mouse, Ray and Enzo all stared at the exotic sprite who was currently staring up at the sky.

"You actually thought he'd done it, didn't you?" Keevan's voice was quiet, yet his tone was hateful.

"Keevan?" Enzo reached out to touch his arm, then thought better of it when Keevan's spines slid out..

"How could you... _you_ of all people.. actually believe that he would put his own _daughter_ in danger? You accused him of _killing_ her! HOW COULD YOU???" Keevan shouted, turning to Bob, eyes blazing, spines unsheathed. He pointed one finger directly at his uncle, his hand shaking with barely repressed violence. "You had to have known what it would do to him! And yet you _still_ accused him of it!" He turned away again, and stared up at the sky, awaiting the Game.

Bob looked at Enzo, who shrugged. "We were at the Diner and Cecil told us what happened that day when they left. He got really quiet after that..."

Bob sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, then opened a VidWindow to Dot. "Bob? No sign of-"

"Dot? Keevan here has... a problem." Bob sighed, pain in his eyes as he turned to his nephew.

"A problem? A _problem_??? I suppose you could call it that.. considering you drove my parents away from here with your oh-so casual accusations. As far as I'm concerned right now, I'm leaving with this Game and not coming back... my father had a good reason for not wanting to find this place again, and I don't blame him."

Dot looked at Keevan through the VidWindow and pleaded with him. "Keevan, it wasn't like that! You didn't know what he was like when he was younger! He was.. he had so much hate inside him, and he had no control over himself. He was capable of anything... he might not have realized how much danger they were in until it was too late.."

Keevan whipped around, his face impassive, all his earlier anger seemingly vanished. When he spoke, his voice was icy. "You do realize, of course, that you were operating with absolutely no real information at all? You still have no idea of how Kylla died..." He sighed and shook his head. "A 'disagreement' they said... but what a disagreement... Kylla died at the age of three months, after visiting many systems, when she was killed by a rampaging virus. There was a group of children, about 30 strong, huddled in a blind alley, caught there while trying to escape the virus. It had them trapped, and father was on the opposite side of the thing. Mother was the only one near enough to get near the children as it turned to attack them. She ducked one hit, but was caught by the second as she blasted a hold in a wall to let the children escape. The second blast caught her in the side and back... and Kylla was in her backpack." Keevan looked up at the sky, eyes glistening. "That was how she died... they had to make a choice between Kylla's life and the lives of over thirty innocents... Guess who won?"

Keevan shook his head and wiped away a tear. "That was how she died.. and you never even _asked_. You just assumed they had taken her into a Game and gotten her killed through reck-"

"Keevan! please... we know. We're sorry, we found out we were wrong when they left... all we've wanted is a chance to see them again, and tell them we're sorry. Please.. give us that chance. Call them here.. call Matrix and Andraia home." The sprites looked at Keevan in silence as the young man stared up at the sky and braced himself.

Dot said quietly, "We're registering an energy buildup.. a Game is arriving directly over you, right about.. now."

"WARNING: INCOMING GAME... WARNING: INCOMING GAME..." The system voice boomed as the sky darkened and a hole appeared above them.

"Keevan.. please, let us at least say we're sorry..." Bob reached out and touched his nephew's arm. Keevan turned and looked into his eyes, shining purple burning into warm brown... and nodded.

"It is not my choice to forgive you, for the hurt was not done to me. The apology needs to be made and accepted to heal the wounds between family members.. and family is important. Very well, I will call them. Please stand back."

Keevan's face softened as Bob stepped back. "I can read your sincerity, uncle, and I forgive you, but it is my father's forgiveness you need, not mine."

The sky opened up and purple Game energy crackled as the Cube took form above them, and Keevan braced himself again, holding his hands in front of him palms facing each other, but keeping them a foot apart. Closing his eyes in concentration, Game energy swirled around him in a column, encasing him in a translucent shield of purple fire. As the Game started down towards them Keevan waited, energy levels building, the power singing around his body in a rising whine. Between his hands a core of Game energy formed, brighter then Bob had ever seen. Keecvan's eyes burned with the energy and it made his hair crackle, and his fins glowed as excess energy was shed.

Bob, Enzo, Mouse and Ray backed off, not sure of what was happening, and when the Game was about halfway into the system, Keevan raised his arms and forced his hands together. The resulting explosion was soundless, but was enough to knock Keevan to his knees as a huge burst of energy rocketed up into the bottom of the Game Cube.

The power surged into the Cube, and up through the hole in the sky to vanish in the darkness. Keevan turned to Bob and grinned."Message sent," he said, and stood just in time for the Game to land on them.

slep


	10. Chapter 10

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 10

As the Cube settled around them, the sprites turned to see what the game was. Bob glanced at Keevan as the younger man groaned and smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Oh.. no.. not "Lode Runner".. this game is soooo basic!"

Bob looked around at their surroundings. They were in a narrow hallway, wide enough for a sprite to reach out with both hands and touch the walls, but no more then that. The floors were made of stone, polished smooth and very slick. Bob looked up as Keevan tapped his icon, then did the same.

"ReBoot!"

Bob took a step forward and nearly tripped on the hem of his new.. robe??? He was now dressed in a deep purple robe with a large hood and full sleeves, not to mention that the robe itself dragged on the floor. He looked up at Kevan and smiled. "Well, at least we all look the same - totally ridiculous." Keevan grinned and shook his head, the lifted the edge of his robe to show the soft leather slippers on his feet.

"We have to be careful, you slip very easily on the floors here, so don't run too fast or you could fall into the holes the User digs. The holes fill up after a short time too, and if you're caught inside it as it fills, you're dead, so **be careful**. Main objective is to stop the User from getting enough of the treasure chests to piece together a key. If he manages to make a key, a door will appear somewhere on the map that exits the level and wins the game."

Enzo nodded, "What weapons does the User have?"

"No weapons, but a stick that he can use to dig holes in the floor in front of him. They fill up after a short time, but if he's fast enough, the User can actually dig himself down through the floors to the level below. Like I said, don't get caught in the holes, if you fall in, get out as fast as you can."

Mouse laughed. "No problems with that, we're used to moving fast. Now, what do _we_ have to stop the User?"

Keevan sighed. "We don't have weapons, all we can do is run and touch him - that's all that is needed to win the Game. It's a simple enough Game, just tricky to play. We all know the layout of the level and the User's starting position, the only thing we don't have is a way of tracking the location of the User after he starts moving." A musical tone sounded throughout the Game, making the stone underfoot tremble.

Keevan gritted his teeth and started down the corridor. "Here we go... Everyone split up! Block the ladders to the higher chambers, and patrol the passageways!"

The sprites started running, sliding on the slick floors at first, but soon found the trick to running on the smooth stone. Bob was the first to encounter the User, climbing up a ladder to the walkway. Bob shouted and ran, arm outstretched to touch the figure, then realized the User had halted a few rungs from the top. Bob soon found out why, as he slid past the User and crashed into the stone wall, unable to stop. Bob looked up, seeing stars and a doubled image of the User running down the corridor.

"He's-" Bob coughed on stone dust and cleared his throat. "_He's over here_! Headed up to.." Bob paused as he summoned up a mental map of the Game. "Corridor 5 on level 3! Someone stop him!" Enzo, a few levels above Bob, heard the shout and glanced around. The level he was currently on had three ladders coming up; one at each end and one in the middle. There were also two ladders going up from the corridor, and they were both at the far end.

Keevan scrambled up one ladder and down another to join Enzo on his level as they waited for the User to climb up. Enzo stood beside one ladder while Keevan covered the other, both of them ready to pounce at the first sign of the User. They waited.

And waited.

And waited...

Enzo was getting nervous, and finally he shook his head. "This is ridiculous! He probably didn't even come up this way! Maybe he's-" Suddenly, the User's head popped up from the middle ladder, followed by his body. Enzo and Keevan both started running at the User, trying to get to him before he made it all the way into the corridor. Unfortunately, the User's body blocked their view of each other. The User, however, saw them both and waited till the last instant before making his move.

Just as they got within a few lengths of him, the User scrambled down the ladder again. Too late, the two sprites saw each other... much too late. They smacked into each other and fell in a heap on top of the ladder. Keevan sat up and rubbed his head, glaring at Enzo for a moment. The older sprite glanced down the ladder, sighed, then stood and offered Enzo a hand up. "The others will head him off if he goes another way, so don't worry. Let's go, we should get back to the ends of this hall in case he tries again." Enzo nodded and limped back to his post.

Elsewhere in the Game cube...

Mouse climbed up a short ladder only to come out into a large hallway with almost a dozen other ways out. She groaned and paused at the top of the ladder, then scrambled up it when she saw the User slide down one ladder and start up another at the far end of the hall. She ran over and looked up the ladder.. and saw nothing. She cursed, annoyed that she'd let the User get away.

"Here! He's coming down this one!" Mouse's head whipped around and she stared in shock at the sprite in front of her. A beautiful woman with powder blue skin and flame red hair was standing below a ladder at the other end of the hall. Mouse blinked and stared.

"Hurry up! He's heading back down!" Mouse was frozen, still staring at the strange sprite, so she missed her chance to catch the User as he appeared at the base of the ladder. The strange woman snarled at the User and swiped at him, and Mouse's jaw dropped as she saw the sprite's arm go _through_ the User.

"I can't touch him.. **you**'ve got to do it! Come **on**! Get moving!!" The woman's green eyes blazed even brighter as she watched the User run away.

Mouse finally found her voice. "Who _are_ you?"

The stranger turned away from Mouse, revealing a wide-eyed child in a backpack while she muttered something Mouse couldn't hear. Mouse scrambled up the ladder and headed for the hallway the User had taken. The woman glanced at the Hacker as she neared, then sighed.

"My name is Sentra...I'm a Game Player. I was trying to help you catch the User-"

"You're a Player? Like Keevan?"

"Yes, like Keevan." Sentra smiled and the green-skinned girl on her back waved shyly at Mouse. The little girl was older then Mouse had originally thought, and was probably around 0.3 or so. With her green skin, and from the shape of her face, not to mention the fins, Mouse had a feeling she knew whose child this was.

"I take it then, that this is your daughter? Yours and Keevan's?"

Sentra arched an elegant eyebrow and smiled again. "Yes, she's our daughter, her name is Rahne... and just where _is_ Keevan anyway? I take it he's here in the Game somewhere, right?"

Mouse was about to answer when another unfamiliar sprite poked his head around the corner. He had rich brown skin with yellow hair and silver eyes, and he wore a pure white jumpsuit. He too had a child on his back, and this child was also green-skinned.

"Hey you two! The User's gone down two levels.. if you go through the next corridor, you can cut him off when he comes back up! But you have to go NOW!" Sentra nodded and turned to Mouse.

"Aaron's right.. you'd better get going. We'll help you by letting you know if the User is coming, but one of _you_ has to touch him to win the game."

Mouse nodded and jogged alongside Sentra and the other sprite, Aaron, as they headed down the corridor. Mouse tried not to stare too much, but didn't succeed very well: there was a strange sprite at the top of every ladder and in most of the hallways, standing around, watching for the User. Mouse stopped when Sentra did, and waited as the other woman talked to a man who stood at the top of one particular ladder. Sentra nodded, then turned back to Mouse.

"Ok, Vassir says this is the only way the User can get up to the door... we've got Ray down below to trap the User on the ladder when he starts up, and as soon as he gets half way up, you start down. Remember, you'll have to move fast... if he has the chance, the User might cut a hole in the wall beside him. It's a lot harder for him to do that, but he can do it. So once you start down the ladder, climb down as fast as you can."

Mouse nodded, a half-grin on her face. "You know... I've only played a couple of dozen Games.. but compared to them, this is both more simple, yet more complicated at the same time."

Sentra shrugged. "It's not that bad... just a bit tricky. Besides, there's not much to do in this one but run around and whack into walls when you don't pay attention." The Player grinned, and Mouse got up her nerve to ask the question that had been bugging her.

"Um.. Sentra? Where did you come from? I mean, how did you get in the Game? You weren't here when it started...?" Sentra smiled, and kept her head over the ladder to watch for the User, as he wouldn't be able to see her.

"Oh, all of us here now transferred in when our other Games were done. It's one of our abilities as Players... we can switch from Game to Game, we can enter Games already started, and we can be observers in Games that we enter at the half-way point. We can also send messages through the Games. When Keevan sent his message, it went through Game-space like a rock being dropped into a pond... the ripples hit those nearest first, and we homed in on the center of the call. Others who are farther away will get the message a bit later, but they'll be on their way as soon as they can."

Mouse stared. "You can move _through_ Games? Like, from one Game to the next, without going into the system?"

Both Sentra and Aaron nodded. Aaron said, "The changes to our icons let us do that and more... mind you, those who are born Players have even more changes, and more abilities."

Sentra grinned and was about to speak when she saw a small flicker of movement below her. "Mouse! He's coming up! Get ready!"

Mouse tensed, and placed her hands on the side of the ladder, ready to vault down onto the rungs.

"Wait for it.... wait for it...." Sentra watched intently as the User climbed up, then grinned wolfishly as Ray appeared at the bottom of the ladder. "NOW!" Mouse jumped on the ladder and scrambled down the rungs. Mouse didn't bother to look down, after hearing Sentra's warning, all she concentrated on was climbing.

"Go Mouse, GO! He's cutting into the wall!" Aaron yelled a warning and Mouse decided to chance something. Wrapping her hands around the outside of the ladder, she took her feet off the rungs and slid down.. down... down... until she hit something slightly bouncy. She heard cheers from above and below, and a cry of pain from under her feet. That wasn't the best thing she heard though, that was reserved for the system announcing "Game Over".


	11. Chapter 11

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 11

Mouse dropped a few feet to the ground and landed off balance. Beside her was Ray, and he put out an arm at just the right moment to catch her as she wobbled.

"Nice work love, you caught him just in time. I always knew you had a great sense of timing." Mouse looked up into Ray's eyes and grinned, reminded of their first kiss during Mainframe's system crash.

"Why, thank you Ray... your own timing isn't that bad either." Mouse smiled and leaned into his shoulder, then kissed him lightly. Smiling dreamily at each other, they didn't notice their surroundings until they heard a few chuckles right behind them.

"Wha..?" Ray spun them around, and gasped in shock.

"There was a huge crowd in front of them, all of them Sprites, all of them strangers, except for...

"Sentra?" Mouse stared at the Player as she lowered the child from her carrysac to the ground. The tall blue woman nodded, grinning at Mouse and Ray.

"Good job Mouse, you certainly nailed that User on the head." Several of the sprites nearby grinned and shook their heads, and Sentra chuckled when Mouse rolled her eyes.

"Sentra!" The Player turned, her face lighting up as she saw the group coming towards them.

"Keevan! I was wondering where you were." The couple kissed and wrapped arms around each other's waists, turning so they faced Mouse, Ray and the Guardians.

"People, I'd like you to meet Sentra Lock, my wife, and these," he motioned with one hand to Aaron and the sprite who Mouse had seen before, who then brought forward two young children. "These are my children, Rodin and Rahne." The two young sprites smiled shyly and waved; Rodin, the elder at 5, had dark red hair and purple eyes; Rahne, at 3, had purple hair and blue eyes. Both children had the green skin of their father and grandfather.

A black and gold metallic woman walked up to stand beside Keevan, her pale eyes fixed on Bob. She moved swiftly, yet silently, every step she took stating how deadly she could be. She watched Bob carefully, and the Guardian frowned.. there was something about her...

Keevan nodded to the metallic woman, and smiled. "This is the third Player of my group, Kendra Coron. Kendra, this is Guardian Bob, Mouse..." Keevan's voice faded as Bob looked at Kendra. He narrowed his eyes - _something_ here wasn't right. Frowning, he focussed a bit of his new powers and scanned her. What he found shocked and surprised him.

"You're a virus?" All the Players stopped dead and stared at Bob. No one moved for a moment, then Keevan stepped forward and nodded, his face calm. Kendra didn't move, but kept her gaze locked on Bob's.

"Uncle... Kendra is the child of a virus and a sprite, she isn't an actual virus. She's the third Player in my group, and I'm very glad to have her. I'm sorry if you don't feel that way, but-" Keevan glanced at Kendra and smiled proudly. "I am honored she agreed to be a part of my group. Not that I'd have let her be in any other, after I saw the way she fights... I don't have to worry about the children's safety when she's around, nothing short of a Core-powered energy cannon could get past her." Kendra glanced at Keevan and grinned, raising an eyebrow at his exaggeration.

"Thank you Keevan. Now, watch, _just_ because you said that, the next system we're in _will_ have a Core-mounted energy cannon that will decide to fire at me... and of course, I'll have to find some way to destroy it while you and the others make wagers on how close I'll let it get before I blow it up."

Keevan laughed as Sentra smiled and patted Kendra's shoulder. "What else would we do? Say Keevan.. don't you still owe me a dinner from the last time Kendra countered a Firewall?" Kendra smiled at the couple as they started talking about wagers and winnings, then turned back to Bob.

"So Guardian - what will you do, now that you know I am of a virus?" Kendra's pale ice-blue eyes gazed serenely at Bob, her gaze as well as her words asking the question.

"What will I do?" Bob tilted his head to one side, then stepped forward, holding out both hands. "I would like to welcome you to Mainframe, if you wish to stay. That Keevan not only trusts you, but places you in his own family is the best reference anyone could ask for." Kendra's smile eased and became a bit warmer as she held out her hands. Bob shook them warmly, then turned to the children beside her.

All three children looked up at him; two were green-skinned, and bore the small jewel-tone fins that had bred true in all of Matrix and Andraia's children, the other little girl was red-skinned and had brown hair, highlighting the fiery orange-red of her eyes.

Another sprite stepped up behind the children and put one hand on the black-haired girl's shoulder. The woman had matching red skin and eyes, but her hair was black rather then brown. She looked at Bob and smiled proudly, her double swords jutting up over her shoulder pads on her armor.

"Hi there, I'm Spectra, one of the Players. Aaron and I are also part of Keevan's group, and this is Cassie, our daughter." Spectra patted Cassie's shoulder as the child looked up at Bob and smiled shyly. The little girl, only about 0.4, waved and tried to squeeze behind her mother. Bob grinned and crouched down in front of her.

"Hello Cassie, my name is Bob." Spectra pushed Cassie forward a bit, then stepped back so the child was facing the Guardian alone. Well, not quite alone, since the other two children stepped forward as well, one on either side of her. Bob was faced now by three children, all around the same age. With the others beside her, Cassie raised her chin and blinked.

"...Hi..." Her voice was almost a whisper, but she did manage to speak. She looked from one side to the other and mumbled something, so softly that Bob had to strain to hear. What she said was "Um.. dese're my fwends.. 'wodin an 'wain.." Bob blinked, and translated it into normal speech, that is, minus the lisp Cassie was so obviously shy about.

Bob smiled and looked at the other children who were looking at him soberly. The boy was biting his lip, looking so much like Keevan that Bob was startled for a moment.

"Hello Rodin," Bob said, looking at the red-haired boy. He held out one hand for him to shake, and after a few breaths, Rodin reached out and grasped Bob's hand. Bob nodded and turned to the green-skinned girl on Cassie's other side.

"And hello to you as well, Rahne." Bob nodded and held out his hand to the purple-haired girl, and they solemnly shook hands as well.

"Well, now that we know each other, I'd like to welcome you to Mainframe. We can show you around the system if you like. For now, we can start at the Diner and get you something to eat, if you're hungry." Bob grinned at the adult Players as all the children nodded frantically. "All right then.. let's go! Everyone have a zipboard? Ok then, get a partner," Bob waited until each child had a grip on an adult's hand, then grinned and stepped on his own. "Here we go!"

Bob led the group off to the Diner, a large portion of the crowd following him.

********

"Dot?"

Dot looked up when a VidWindow popped up in front of her, displaying Phong. She sighed as Kylla grabbed for her organizer at the same time Dixon decided to play with his mother's latest financial chart. She slid her organizer out of reach, minimized the chart, and smiled at Phong.

"Yes? Sorry.. the kids are feeling a bit energetic."

Phong nodded and tapped a panel, causing a group of readings to be displayed on the bottom of her VidWindow.

"We just picked this up..."

"A portal? Have you checked it-"

"Against all scheduled incoming and outgoing traffic, yes. This fits the approximate time of arrival for Prime Turbo. I thought you and Bob would like to know in time to greet him."

"Great, thank you Phong. We certainly would li-" Dot broke off as Bob entered the Diner, a whole group of children in tow. Open-mouthed, Dot glanced out the window and saw all the other sprites as well. "Hold on a nano, would you Phong?" The elderly sprite nodded as Dot waved Bob over.

"Hey Dot, I'd like you to meet a group of your relatives." Bob was grinning widely and so were a few of the strangers behind him. Dot smiled warmly at them and motioned Cecil over to take orders.

"Bob? Phong says Prime Turbo should be arriving.. right about now, actually."

Bob blinked and straightened. "I can't just run off and leave all these people here.. Hmm... who to send..." His eyes fell on Keevan, who was cheerfully talking with the Players of his group. "Keevan!"

The young Player's head snapped around at Bob's shout, and he made his way through the now-crowded Diner to Dot's table, his group following him. Dot stiffened as Kendra approached the children, but Bob, smiling, shook his head and picked Dixon up for Kendra to hold. Dot looked from Bob to Dixon, only to see both of them smiling. Dot relaxed a bit, and shrugged. If Bob trusted her with his son, he must have checked her out already, and that was good enough for her. Bob nodded at Dot as she relaxed and turned to Keevan.

"Keevan, I'd like to settle your people in here a bit more, but we have a rather important person arriving in-system about now, and there should be someone there to meet him. Would you..?"

Keevan blinked and grinned "Sure! Where do I go?"

Dot pointed out the Net ports for him. "Dock 12, he should be almost there."

Keevan nodded and headed out, then poked his head back in the door. "Um.. who is it I'm supposed to be meeting, anyway?"

Dot and Bob grinned to each other as Bob answered with a smile, "Prime Guardian Turbo, head of the Guardian Council and the only Guardian who survived the Daemon infection with his codes untouched. A great man.. and a good friend of mine."

Keevan's eyes widened, and he blinked a few times before nodding and zipping out the door again.

********

Out by the docks, people were chatting and walking, enjoying the pleasant evening, and when Turbo stepped off the transport, it was into a crowd of sightseers. Looking around the crowd, he found himself the focus of more then a few curious stares, whispered comments, and, sadly enough, a bit of fear. He sighed; it was his greatest desire to once again walk through a system and not see fear on the faces of the people when they saw a Guardian uniform. He let a bit of his pained feelings show on his face, and a few of those around him nodded in understanding and turned away.

Grateful for their decision, he glanced around again, frowning slightly. Bob knew the time when he'd be arriving, he'd made sure Cadet Enzo had that information for the express purpose of passing it on to Bob. His frown deepened. Cadet Enzo was a true credit to the profession, his marks were excellent, and he looked to becoming as great a Game player as his older self, Matrix. There was no way the youngster would have neglected to inform Bob of his arrival, which meant that Bob hadn't gotten the information.

Cursors! What could have happened? The system looked peaceful enough, even to his trained eyes, although he knew more then most just how deceiving looks could be.

His eyes searching the docks, his ears sharp for any hint of danger, he raised his left arm slightly and whispered, "Copeland, scan for virals."

Copeland whirred and suddenly beeped, causing Turbo's eyes to snap to the display. To his horror, the virus was apparently on Baudway, one of the busiest sectors. Not only that, it was also inside Dot's Diner. Turbo felt a chill down his spine; had it attacked young Enzo and gone on to infect Dot Matrix as well? If it had, the entire system could be one step away from-

"*_ahem_* Greetings, and welcome to Mainframe, Prime Turbo." Turbo swung around, amazed that someone had approached so closely without him noticing.

"Hi there, did Bob send-" Turbo broke off, stunned into silence as he caught sight of his welcoming committee of one. "Oh.. my..." As Prime, Turbo had ordered that any hint of Matrix and Andraia's presence be reported as soon as could be, with visuals if possible. Reports had been frequent, visuals not so much, but he had still managed to collect a sizable amount. Most had been fuzzy, or overdeveloped, but on some he could still make out details of Matrix and Andraia.. and those with him. He could clearly remember seeing a small child, a young boy, with Matrix once. That boy had had green skin, blue-green hair, and fins... just like the young man standing in front of him now.

"You are Prime Turbo, correct?" The Guardian couldn't believe it, the man standing in front of him was as tall as Matrix, with not only his skin coloring and eye coloring, but also the same look to his face that Matrix had. Not to mention that he looked like his mother as well; her sinewy grace had passed on to all her children along with the razor sharp retractable fins and spines.

The young man raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes a bit, and Turbo suddenly realized that he had been too busy staring to answer the question.

"Ah.. sorry, I was just... uh... you.. I mean... Matrix..." Keevan grinned suddenly as Turbo found himself at a loss for words. The Guardian stopped and grinned. "Sorry.. can we start over?" Keevan chuckled and nodded.

"I'm Keevan Matrix, my uncle Bob sent me here to meet you, he's more then a bit busy with something that just came up."

"Pleased to meet you Keevan, and yes, I'm Prime Turbo. I was wondering.. is it the virus?"

Keevan's eyes narrowed again and he tilted his head to one side, pinning the Guardian with his gaze.

"Virus? I take it you mean Kendra?"

"Who?" Turbo looked puzzled, then raised Copeland to show Keevan the readout. "Copeland says there's a virus in Mainframe, inside the Diner, to be exact. I don't know what happened to Bob, but-"

"Bob is fine.. and so is Kendra. That 'virus' you're talking about is a good friend of mine, a highly rated Player and a member of my group." Keevan's frown grew deeper and his face turned slightly hostile. "She poses _NO _danger to any of the people here, in fact, she's one of the best fighters in the Net. If you can't look past the fact that she's-"

"Whoa there, wait a nano! If you say she's with you, that's fine, but as a Guardian I still have to check her out. I have a duty to do that.. I'm sorry son, but I -have- to. If I didn't, I wouldn't be who I am." Turbo frowned a bit at the younger man's outburst, then nodded as Keevan calmed down. Turbo was glad his years of experience had helped him hide his surprise when Keevan's fins had flashed out in his anger, and his nervousness when they had sparkled slightly with a purple energy he had only seen before in Games.

"Now... it would help if you could start at the beginning... who are you exactly, how did you get here, who -is- this 'Kendra' and why should I trust her," Turbo put up a hand to calm Keevan down as the young Player started to protest, "I need to know why I can trust her, and if you don't mind, I'd like to know how your parents are doing lately."

Keevan blinked, taken aback by that last question. "My parents?" His face broke into a wide grin and he laughed. "My parents are fine.. just fine, and in fact, they're on their way here. Why don't we go on to the Diner where my uncle and aunt are, and I can explain the history of the Players to you all at once."

Turbo nodded and flipped out a zipboard as Keevan did the same, and the two rose into the air and started making their way towards Baudway.

As they flew away, the binomes on the dock could hear their conversation until their voices began to fade with the distance.

"So... you're Matrix's son...? This is bound to be interesting."

"One thing you learn about my father after spending _any_ amount of time with him is that around him, events tend to... go a little haywire."

"Haywire? From your tone, that sounds a bit tame..."

"You have _NO_ idea..."

Both men laughed as they headed towards the hub of the system.


	12. Chapter 12

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 12

Back in the Diner, Bob had just finished introducing Dot to as many Players as he could get near the table. Most had stayed outside in the parking lot because of crowding, but Dot had managed to meet most of them. They both found the Players' reaction to young Enzo rather amusing, but after the 20th time of seeing a sprite older then her dip his head in a bow as Enzo went by, Dot started to see things differently.

"Bob?" She frowned a bit as one Player opened the door of the Diner for Enzo.

"Hmmm? What is it?" Bob hugged her close and watched Kendra playing with the twins.

"Have you noticed the way all the Players seem to defer to Enzo? I've been seeing a lot of them almost -bowing- to him when he walks by! It's too wierd... it's like they almost -worship- him in some strange way."

Kendra looked up from where she was supervising Bob and Dot's children as Rodin, Rahne and Cassie made their way through the crowd with new energy shakes for the adults. Thanking the children, she took a sip and turned to look at the couple.

"You want to know _why_ we honor young Enzo Matrix?" Dot glanced at Kendra as she stood, leaving the older children to watch the younger ones. The half-viral slid into the seat opposite the couple and frowned slightly.

"It's not worship... it's more like, respect. We respect the younger Matrix for what he has the capability to become. The Matrix we all know and honor has changed all of our lives, and for some, he and Andraia are the only reasons we are alive and free now. Some call them the Founders, some call them simply the Mother and Father, but to all he is **the** Matrix. All their children bear his name, but HE is Matrix, even as SHE is Andraia. They are the ones who have shaped our lives, and countless others across the Net. In showing our respect to young Enzo, we honor Matrix, in the hope that he might know how much his older self has done, and strive to be like him."

Dot and Bob pondered that for a while, watching Enzo at the bar, talking to some of the younger Players. They seemed to be hanging on every word he said, and Bob noted with approval that Enzo was aware of it, as he was obviously trying to downplay his own importance. From snatches of overheard conversation, they could tell he was asking about different Games and playing strategies.

Kendra rearranged her hands on the table, recapturing their attention.

"We all owe Matrix our lives; take Sentra, for example. According to the Archivists, Sentra and her father were some of the few survivors of a system gone viral. The entire system was self-destructing, and since the system was not Net-connected, there was no way to escape. That is, until Matrix and Andraia entered the system. After discovering that there were only a few sprites left, the Players at that time gathered them all together and paired themselves up with one or more refugees. When the next Game Cube landed, the Players left, taking with them all the survivors of that system. Most decided to stay in the next system they landed in, as it proved peaceful, but a few stayed.. to help others as they themselves had been helped." Kendra raised an eyebrow at Dot, and she nodded for the half-virus to continue.

"Keevan may have been young, but he knew how to take care of himself. He was paired up with Sentra, who was also young, and also had some small skill at fighting. They became fast friends during the two Games it took them to reach the new system, and when it came time to remove the Game codes from the icons of the refugees, Sentra asked her father if they could stay." Kendra chuckled a bit, remembering.

"It was obvious, even then, that the two had some kind of bond... as if they had been made for each other. They were perfect partners, knowing instinctively how the other would move in a fight. Matrix and Andraia approved of the pairing, saying only that 'things would happen as they were meant to'." Kendra looked at Dot with a critical eye. "That phrase stuck in my head because it was so odd.. would you happen to know what they meant by it?"

The couple shared a loaded glance for a moment, then Bob nodded.

"When Enzo was small and Andraia first came out of the Game, the two were inseparable. They knew where the other was and how the other would react.. much the way you describe Keevan and Sentra. They were best of friends... and apparently later on in life, more then friends. Only when they were together were they truly happy. There was nothing they wouldn't do for each other, nothing that could stand in their way. They were an unbeatable team.. and when it came to fighting Daemon, well.. the Net would not be free if it were not for those two."

Dot hugged Bob as he shuddered, his eyes blank while his mind replayed memories of that dark war against his friends and comrades...

~*~~*~~*~

"GET DOWN!! They're coming in for another attack!"

Bob ducked behind a chunk of broken rock that had used to be a wall, and turned to look at Mouse. Up above Bob, Ray shouted a warning, then jumped off the ledge to land beside the Guardian. Explosions above knocked small bits of rubble down on the rebels gathered below.

"Well... Daemon is throwing all her troops at us.. and they're being led by _all_ the Guardians." Ray shook dust off his shoulder, then smiled as Mouse reached over and rubbed a smear of energy off his cheek. The two shared an intense look as Bob grinned openly, until the full meaning of the Surfer's report hit him.

"ALL the Guardians?" Bob stared at Ray, hoping against hope...

"Yeah mate.. even the Prime.. Turbo."

"Never! There's no way Turbo would go along with Daemon!"

Matrix was crouched down beside a large sheet of stone a few feet away from Bob, and he frowned at Ray as if he was making a bad joke. Ray put up his hands in surrender and shrugged.

"Hey mate.. I'm just telling you what I saw.. you want some better news, go ahead and look for yourself."

Matrix glowered for a nano before climbing up to the viewing ledge. Carful to keep out of view, he peered at the approaching group and squinted to bring up his eye's telescopic vision.

"Decom it... he is there," Matrix snarled. Below him, Ray looked at Bob as he let shoulders slump in defeat. Suddenly, Matrix frowned as he zoomed in to Turbo's face and muttered, "But what's this?"

The rebels stared upwards as Matrix laughed harshly.

"Matrix? What is it?" Bob felt uneasy.. Matrix never laughed anymore when things were really funny, only when there was a fight in the works.

"Oh not much.. except I can see that Turbo still has Copeland. We may have an ace in the hole here..." He glanced down at the sprites and bared his teeth. "Turbo's playing along.. but I'm sure that once it comes down to hand-to-hand fighting, he'll be on our side."

Bob smiled slightly, hope bringing a bit of light into his face. The other sprites looked at him and felt strengthened as Bob's determination renewed itself.

"Right... so what are we waiting for? Every nano we're holed up here gives them more time to set weapons up against us. Let's **go**!" Bob grinned up at Matrix, primed and ready to fight, then stopped and stared in horror as he saw Matrix blown back from the ledge to slam into the wall behind.

"MATRIX!" Andraia leapt to his side, pushing him back down as he tried to stand up. "Stay down, Enzo.." The other Sprites gathered around the renegade, making worried noises while Andraia checked Matrix's armor for damage. She finished and looked up into Bob's worried face.

"Nothing..." Bob gasped as Andraia stated the word in a flat voice, then stared in shock and bewilderment as she grinned. "Not a mark on him." She ruffled Matrix's hair, knocking dust and grit from it, and stood, offering him her hand. She pulled him to his feet and stepped back as Matrix dusted off his armor.

Bob blinked a few times, unable to believe what he had just seen. "Are.. are you sure you're ok?"

Matrix shook himself and patted his armor, now pitted and scarred from absorbing the force of the hit.

"Oh, I'll be fine. That was just a tap... I've survived worse." He grinned at Bob and the others, then tapped his armor, drawing their attention to the scarring on it. To their amazement, the pits and cracks were closing, disappearing, _healing_ before their eyes. In the space of a few breaths, Matrix's armor was untouched except for the few bits of dust still left. "You wouldn't believe what I went through for this armor, but it was well worth the price I paid for it."

Matrix unholstered his Gun and stepped up beside Andraia, who was standing next to the hole in the wall and grinned at her.

"Ready?"

She grinned back, then flicked out her trident and nodded.

"Ready."

Before Bob could do more then raise a hand in protest, the two had leapt up into the opening: Matrix laying down covering fire while Andraia raced for cover. As Bob and the others jumped up and followed the two out into battle, they could see Matrix and Andraia in the thick of the fighting. Bob stared in shock and he heard Mouse utter an oath as they saw the two partners move like greased lightning, defending each other at the same time they struck at their enemies. They had already accounted for an even dozen Guardians and had taken down more then twice that many other sprites and binomes.

"Cursors, but I'm glad those two are on our side.." Mouse muttered as she knocked out an infected Guardian. Noticing the damage the two young warriors were causing, Bob could only agree. Then he was too busy firing off energy blasts of his own to do anything else..

~*~~*~~*~

Bob shivered, that instant still frozen in his mind. Matrix, lit up by the near-misses from deadly colored beams of energy, firing his Gun repeatedly at Bob's own friends, and there was nothing Bob could do except join the younger sprite.

Dot looked worriedly at Bob's blank face, his eyes still dark with remembered pain, and patted his arm slightly. Bob jumped, startled out of his recollection, and shook himself lightly.

"Sorry.. it's still quite vivid..."

Kendra gazed at his troubled face and murmured, "I don't think I envy you, even if I do wish I'd been there to help."

Bob nodded. "Believe me, we thought we'd need an army, but Matrix and Andraia were like an army by themselves."

~*~~*~~*~

The sound of weapons fire echoed down the hallways of the Guardian Academy, gradually growing louder as Bob, Mouse and Ray neared the Council Room of the Primes. Bob ran as fast as he could; his zipboard had long ago been shot out from under him, and he couldn't spare the energy to fly. Matrix and Andraia had gotten separated from the rest of the fighters when they went after Turbo, and had disappeared after that.

Bob had nearly panicked when he discovered they were missing, then turned and ran directly for Guardian Headquarters. He knew they were there, knew that Matrix could do nothing less then go after Daemon himself, and as he ran, he felt a finger of ice run down his spine, and made himself admit that he was afraid.. Afraid he'd arrive too late.

Bob skidded around the last corner, closely followed by Mouse, Ray and a few other sprites and binomes who had managed to keep up. The scene before them was shocking.

The bodies of Guardians lay scattered about the floor; Bob could count at least twenty in his first glance. They weren't dead, but they were hunched over as if in pain, clutching their heads and moaning. The only person left standing was Matrix, and he stood facing the huge double doors of the Council Chamber, gun outstretched towards the half-open doors, but he wasn't firing. With an expression of pain on his face, he held his gun steady, but Bob could tell it was a struggle.

"Let her go, Daemon." Matrix's voice was cold and hard as the marble floors, and it sent chills through Bob's body. From Matrix's choice of words, Bob could tell what was happening, and he grew colder yet as he imagined what was happening to Andraia at that moment.

"Make me, Renegade..." The words were soft and smooth, the voice as thick and as sweet sounding as honey, but the tone was venomous. "You can't though, can you? You won't chance harming your sweet lover here, will you?" Bob could hear a poisoned smile in the next words and shuddered even as he motioned the others behind to flatten themselves against the wall.

"Now, I must admit I'm curious... what would you do if I.. oh, let's say.. I infected her, this young partner of yours? Would you kill me? Shoot me with that amazingly accurate gun of yours? Or would you rather have me release her from the infection before I die?" In the dim light of half-ruined the Council Hall, Bob could see a slim female figure step from between the doors; a slim figure that was holding another hostage, one arm wrapped around Andraia's throat, the other holding the Game Sprite's icon.

"Would you like to see how fast I can infect?" Matrix's arm shook with rage as Daemon moved closer, and Bob drew in a silent gasp as she stepped into a pool of light and he could see her for the first time.

Beautiful.. beautiful and deadly. Daemon's form was that of a female sprite in her prime, her opalescent hair fell past her waist in a shimmer of white, contrasting with her deep navy blue skin. Her golden eyes were slitted, and they stared intently at Matrix, her viral origins revealed only by the way she held the struggling Andraia with no apparent effort.

"Would you care to.. race me to her icon? Just to see how good you really are? Hmmmm?" Matrix gritted his teeth and kept his gun trained on the virus, but he didn't move as Daemon stepped nearer. Daemon narrowed her eyes to slits and bared her teeth, and then, _changed_.

Matrix's eyes widened a bit, but he didn't drop his gun. Daemon was still in a female form, but now it was the form of a virus. Her hair was still opalescent in color, but it was now in the form of shining metal coils that curled and moved on their own, rather like a nest of shimmering snakes. Her skin was still dark blue, but it was the hard metallic blue that looked so much like Megabyte's and it had a much darker sheen to it, one that brought to mind very deep water. Her eyes were still gold, the only thing about her that was unchanged, and they were still slitted.

"What about now, virus-killer?" Daemon hissed. She held up Andraia's icon between her fingers and smirked at him. "Let's just see..." Quicker then Bob's eye could follow, Daemon twisted her grip on Andraia, picked her up and threw her against the wall behind Matrix. Matrix ducked instinctively, then cursed as Andraia smacked into the wall with a sickening crack.

He spun around to face Daemon again, gun raised to fire as his finger tightened on the trigger... and focused on Andraia's icon that Daemon held. The virus smirked as Matrix shook with rage and snarled; his free hand curled into a fist so tight the leather of his glove creaked.

"Kill me and you kill her too.. so now what are you going to do to me, child?" Daemon stepped a bit nearer to Matrix, almost close enough to reach out and touch Matrix's gun.

Bob was jolted by the sudden knowledge of what Daemon was planning and leapt forward with a shout, already gathering power in his hands for a concentrated energy beam. Daemon and Matrix stared at Bob in shock for a heartbeat, then Daemon darted forward, under Matrix's line of fire.

Only then did Matrix realize what she was trying to do, and he tried to throw himself to one side as she neared him with one outstretched hand. Bob's eyes widened as everything seemed to go into slow motion;

Daemon let go of Andraia's icon;

Matrix dropped his gun and threw himself towards Bob;

Bob's hands glowed with an energy buildup;

Daemon snarled in triumph as she neared Matrix;

Matrix widened his eyes in panic as he realized he hadn't gotten far enough away;

Bob felt despair as the energy took longer to build to a killing blow then Matrix had left...

And Daemon touched Matrix's right shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 13

"...and?"

Bob looked up, startled out of his memories by Kendra's gentle voice. He was amazed to see that the table was ringed by Players, and that the window had been opened up so those outside could hear as well. Bob turned around in his seat and felt his jaw drop in amazement as he saw that almost every Player in the system was watching him. He shut his mouth and tried to pick up his narrative where he had left off.

One of the Players, a Chronicler named Whiplash for the origin of the white scars across his face, moved a bit closer to the table and tapped a few more notes on a touchpad. His visual and audio recorders were running on max pickup, but he still wanted to be closer to Bob as he told the story.

Bob saw him as he moved nearer, into a spot that another Player made for him. The Chronicler smiled, then tapped the visual recorder mounted beside his eye and shrugged. "Do you mind? We don't have any records about this.."

Bob nodded, then turned his attention back to Kendra. Dot grabbed his hands in hers, and he smiled as he glanced into her eyes, drawing strength from her. Then, taking a deep breath, he continued...

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

And Daemon touched Matrix's right shoulder.

Bob shuddered at the sound of Matrix's scream even as he continued to gather power, ready for use once Daemon moved away from Matrix's body. She looked up at him and bristled, her yellow eyes boring into his, and laughed as she dared him to do something to stop her. She had her talons sunk deep into Matrix's arm and neck, his energy running out in small rivers to mix with the dust and grit on the floor. Daemon snarled at Bob, baring her teeth and crouching over her prey even as she spread her infection through the Renegade's codes.

She hissed and stood, making sure to keep a hand on Matrix. Bob held the power in his hands; power enough, he hoped, to delete Daemon. He tried not to look at Matrix, tried not to notice the younger sprite's groans of pain. Daemon laughed as she noticed this, and grabbed Matrix's hair, yanking him up to show Bob his face.

Matrix's good eye was glowing a hideous yellow, pulsing in apparent time to his heartbeat, and his icon was covered by a sickly yellow web of lines. Matrix looked at Bob through his yellow-tinged eye, and the older Guardian shivered at the mixture of pain, panic, hate and fear he saw there. There was also a sense of pleading that shocked Bob, a desperate request for release of any sort, even deletion.

This only added to Bob's feeling that he had let Matrix down, because now he couldn't even spare the energy to give Matrix that last bit of peace; he had to keep all his power for the battle with Daemon. Daemon let go of Matrix's head and laughed as he let out a groan and dropped to the floor again.

"So... this is the great Guardian, the one who has eluded all my hunters and destroyed all my traps. Tell me, do you plan to delete me, even as this one did?" Daemon struck Matrix's head with her fist, drawing a trickle of energy from his temple and yet another groan from deep in his chest.

Bob said nothing, simply building up his power for the blast that would erase Daemon... whenever she moved away from Matrix. There was no way he was about to chance killing Matrix along with the virus, not after the young Guardian had risked so much for him. He sensed Mouse and Ray coming up beside him; Mouse with her sword and pistol drawn, Ray with a small energy cannon in his arms.

It was a tense standoff; Bob and his allies ready to fire; Daemon holding Matrix's life in her hands. She grinned, then suddenly changed back to her sprite form. Bob frowned, mystified, then understood as the Guardians on the floor around them began to stir.

Twenty Guardians, all of them infected.. there was no way Bob and the others could stand against them AND Daemon! Bob made up his mind; he would have to deal with Daemon _now_, before her reinforcements woke up enough to be a danger.

Something had to be done, and soon, so he flicked one hand at Daemon, sending a short bolt of power at her. It knocked her back from Matrix for a moment, but did no damage; Daemon was too strong for such a mild shock to hurt her. That was when Bob made his move, letting loose enough energy to force Daemon back another step, and yet another as Mouse and Ray began a steady fire of their own weapons. Daemon snarled and retaliated with a burst of viral energy, melting Mouse's gun and causing it to explode in her hands.

Mouse screamed as the gun's stored energy backlashed, burning her hands and arms. Ray slowed his fire for a moment, concerned, and that was when Daemon tried to take advantage of his lapse. She shook off the effect of Bob's strike and leapt for him, only to be knocked back yet again when Bob doubled the amount of power he launched at her.

Snarling at this proof that he wasn't using his full strength against her yet, Daemon let out a high-pitched screech, making most of the rebels yelp and cover their ears. It also seemed to act as a wake up call for the Guardians, as they started moving more then before; one or two of them even starting to stand up, albeit shakily.

She was now a few feet away from anyone, even Matrix, so Bob called to Ray and told him to get his gun working again. Ray tried shooting at Daemon with his energy cannon, but she managed to dodge his fire and Bob's. Striking back with virulent yellow energy streams of her own, Bob was forced to shield his group of rebels, cutting back on the amount of power he used against Daemon.

Bob was getting worried; a few of the Guardians were now becoming aware of what was happening, and the bright yellow marks of infection in their eyes showed they were acting under viral control. They started to move against the group using their hands as weapons; apparently Matrix had destroyed their guns in the fight earlier.

Attacked from behind as well as in front, Bob was getting desperate; his power was leaking away on these small attacks, and he had no way to recharge, while Daemon had what was left of the entire Guardian Collective to draw upon. He gritted his teeth as Daemon sent a whiplash of crackling energy to burst against his shield even as she danced aside, escaping his return fire.

'There's no way we can get out of this.. if only Matrix could...' Bob shook that thought away. There would be no help from Matrix, not while he was infected. In fact, it would be Daemon's style to play with the rebels until Matrix recovered from infection, then have the young Renegade delete his childhood hero.

Wincing at the thought of Matrix being forced to erase him, Bob glanced over to where he lay on the floor. To Bob's surprise, Matrix was already stirring, trying to force himself to his feet. Beyond him, Bob could see Andraia moving a bit as well, near the base of the wall. If both of them were infected..

'This is it then... we're almost done. Well, at least we'll go down fighting!' Bob narrowed his eyes grimly and turned his full attention back to Daemon. Focusing his hatred for what she'd done to his friends and the Net, he prepared to add his own personal energy to his next strike.

Daemon saw Bob ready himself for a major energy release, and prepared to dance out of the way again, only to screech in surprise at what happened next.

"Copeland: stasis lock!"

Daemon gasped and ducked, trying to escape the stasis lock before it hit her, then screamed in fury as she realized her mistake. Turbo had aimed at her feet, not her head, and she was now frozen to the floor from the knees down, an unmoving target.

Bob turned the full force of his power on Daemon, raising another scream from the supervirus, but this time, it was a scream of agony as he managed to break through her shields.

It wasn't enough, however, as she managed to withstand the pain and tried to gather her own energies again. Turbo then added his own power in, using Copeland to burn away more of Daemon's protections. Daemon shrieked as her codes started to burn, but managed to fend off most of the effects of the double attack. Looking around for something to use against the two Guardians, Daemon spied Matrix, who had gotten to his knees by this point.

"Matrix!" His head snapped up even as the other Guardians in the room collapsed again as Daemon turned her attention from all of them to Matrix. His infection was almost complete, but he was fighting it.. and her. Fighting her, but still infected by her.

Her codes burning away, she directed Matrix to pick up his gun, which he did. She directed him to raise it, and aim it at her attackers, and he did. Daemon laughed as she saw the panic in Bob's eyes as Matrix aimed.. then broke off in astonishment as Bob grinned wolfishly. Turning, she found herself staring down the barrel of Matrix's gun... SHE was his target, not Bob!

Daemon attacked Matrix's mind though the link she held, trying to force him to shift his aim, to target Bob instead. Bob heard the leather on his glove creak as his finger tightened on the trigger and saw Daemon's eyes widen in panic.

Matrix gritted his teeth against what must have been enormous mental pressure and slowly squeezed the trigger of his gun. He forced four words out between his teeth as he managed to fire - "This is for hurting Andraia," then-

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Bang! No more Daemon."

Everyone looked up in surprise as a new voice interrupted Bob's recitation.

"Couldn't have put it better myself. Welcome to Mainframe, Turbo." Bob grinned and stood to shake Turbo's hand as he and Keevan made their way through the crowd. The Players parted as another figure from their legends walked among them, and watched as two of the most famous sprites in the Net greeted each other.

"But yes, that pretty much ended the Daemon war right there, since her control of the Guardians died with her." Turbo nodded, and raised an eyebrow. Bob grinned and bowed slightly, letting Turbo pick up the narrative.

"Just before she was deleted, Daemon reached out through her viral link to every single Guardian; we're not sure why, maybe she was trying to implant a self-destruct in us so we'd all die when she did, we don't know. When she did die though, she was connected to the minds of every infected Guardian, so we all experienced a great shock, basically knocking us all out. That means _all_ of us, all over the Net, not just the ones in the same system as Daemon." Turbo sighed as he leaned back against the bar.

"We lost a few Guardians that way, as binomes and sprites who had been beaten and repressed by Daemon's rule hit back, killing Guardians as they lay helpless." He paused, rubbing his forehead, then crossed his arms and continued. "Bob here managed to get a Net wide message out, and told people to pack the Guardians up and send them to the SuperComputer, under guard if need be. Sadly, quite a few of our people who were returned under guard ended up spending time in the hospital for the injuries they got from 'unknown causes'. Third thing Bob did after Daemon was deleted was to clean my codes of infection, so I was able to start making some sense out of the chaos. It's taken a long time to get the trust of the systems again, and even now, I still see people react in fear when they see a Guardian's uniform. I've made it my first duty to make sure that, by the time I retire from Prime, no one will ever feel fear at the arrival of a Guardian."

Turbo straightened and ran his hands through his short hair.

"Ah well.. enough of this depressing topic, we're here for a party, aren't we?" He grinned as smiles started appearing on faces, and turned to Dot.

"Nice to see you again, Dot. You get more beautiful every time I see you. It seems married life agrees with you Bob." Turbo kissed Dot's hand, grinned and winked at the younger Guardian, then crouched down to see the twins.

More then one of the surrounding Players blinked and looked twice, trying to fit the image of the fierce and grim fighter they had heard of with the reality of the cheerful sprite greeting two young children.

Keevan looked down at Turbo, now with both Kylla and Dixon trying to wrap their arms around his neck. He laughed, and that seemed to break the spell for the rest of the Players. They started moving off, breaking into smaller groups. Keevan sat down at Bob and Dot's booth as Kendra made room for him, and watched as Turbo sat down as well.

"Now then Turbo, I promised you an explanation. Whiplash? Your information would help as well." The Chronicler sat on a chair Cecil brought out for him, and joined the table. "Now, in the beginning, Matrix and Andraia wanted to start a group of people who could act as Guardians, but weren't bound by their rules..."

Keevan began retelling the history of the Players, this time with Whiplash volunteering additional information.

* * *

Three sprites flew through the levels of the city, gradually making their way lower. One was in a cadet's uniform - the young Enzo Matrix. The other two were only a few months older then Enzo, but at age 1.7, acted much older. They were both green-skinned, and both bore the multi-colored spines on their arms that marked them as children of Andraia. Their purple eyes glittered in the dim light, glinting off their visible weapons, shimmering on the black leather of their clothing. The woman, Dana, wore an iridescent black tanktop, black pants, and a loose black jacket. She looked like a much younger Dot, while Drake was the image of his father when younger, except that he had both eyes and no beard. He wore armor much like his father's, but tied his long green hair back in a pony-tail.

"So... why are you here now? I thought you'd be at the Guardian Academy... Isn't that where you stay now that you're a cadet?" Dana Matrix asked Enzo. She and her twin brother, Drake, were flying beside Enzo as they zipboarded through the city. Enzo was showing the two some of the places they had heard their parents talk about, and were now on their way to Level 31, and Al's Wait and Eat.

"Well, it's the second anniversary of the deletion of Daemon, so all those who played major parts in it are back here to celebrate. Mouse, Ray, and Turbo, and a few dozen others have been arriving here for the past little while. The official holiday is tomorrow; Turbo was the last to get here - as the head of the Primes, he has a lot of duties."

Drake cleared his throat as the three landed by Al's, and raised an eyebrow at Enzo. "So you guys are throwing a big party to celebrate killing a virus? Man, you sure do carry grudges, don't you..."

"Carry grudges?" Enzo stopped and stared at the two. "Are you guys _kidding_? This is Daemon we're talking about!"

The twins shrugged.

"I mean.. come on! _DAEMON_! She was only the most powerful virus around, who not only managed to infect the Guardian Collective, but also had almost total control over the entire Net! Anyone who opposed her was deleted, and it was done in the name of the Guardians!" Enzo stared at them both, as they just stood there, totally unconcerned about it. "How can you call celebrating the freeing of so many from viral slavery, 'carrying a grudge'?"

The twins shrugged again.

"Well, it's not like it happened a little while ago.. I mean, heck, we weren't even born yet when it happened." Drake glanced around the dark streets and absently patted his gun, then looked back at Enzo. "How can you expect us to get so emotional about something that happened way back then?"

Enzo blinked as it hit him; the full impact of the time difference and the reasons why the Players didn't come out of the Games often. "You guys... I mean, Players, don't you feel we're.. oh, I don't know.. slow, sometimes? Living in the Games must get you used to things happening all the time, one event right after another. I don't know how you could stand to come out of the Games even for a short time..."

Drake laughed. "Oh, it's not _that_ bad.. mom and dad got us into protecting systems, not just playing Games. We system hop just like they used to, and we do the same things they did too, only more, since we have the luxury of all the time in the net."

Dana nodded and smiled. "See, this way, we have the chance to do more then our parents, because they were looking for home when they were system hopping, and they _had_ to leave with the next Game. For us, there is no time limit, we can stay as long as we need to. Plus, we can't get lost.. we found out how to control where we hop a _long_ time ago."

Drake looked around the level again, at then at Al's.

"You know.. now that I've seen it, I'm not _that_ eager to go inside. Why don't we just keep zipping?" Enzo shrugged and got back on his zipboard again. They three were just starting to see open sky above them when all three felt... something.

Enzo stopped and went still... as if he was trying to hear someone calling him from far away. Just as he thought he could recognize it, the feeling went away.

"Argh.. what _was_ that?" The twins looked at each other, entirely serious, then back at the young Guardian.

"You're not going to like it..." said Dana.

"Definitely not going to like it." said Drake.

"Not like WHAT???" Enzo frowned and looked up at the sky again, in the direction of where the 'feeling' had come from.

"It was a portal. Not an ordinary one though.."

Enzo looked at the twins, who were trading worried looks again.

"Well? What kind _was_ it?" The cadet looked at Drake, but it was Dana who answered, and her voice surprised him with its venom.

"It was viral."


	14. Chapter 14

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

part 14

"VIRAL?? A viral portal coming into Mainframe...?" Enzo turned his zipboard towards the Principle Office and sped off, surprising the twins with his speed. They flew after him, catching up just as he opened a portable VidWindow and called Bob.

"So.. we know it was under viral control.. but that's it?" Enzo looked up at Mouse and frowned. "I thought you'd upgraded the hardware and detectors?"

Dana, Drake and Enzo had met Bob and the others on the way to the Principle Office, and were now gathered in the main control room. Mouse scowled at the cadet, and crossed her arms.

"I did... Obviously they've found a way to get around them anyway. They used the energy bleed off from opening the portal to create a huge power burst, letting it blind our sensors. That uses up a heck of a lot of energy, and unless you've got power to throw away, you don't do it. The requirements are huge, and all it does is create a bit of confusion."

Mouse snarled at the readings again, and no one dared mention that the 'bit of confusion' the energy burst had created was keeping every sensor in the system busy, constantly scanning for any traces of viral activity. So far, nothing was coming up, and even Copeland and Bob couldn't find the intruders.

Dot shook her head as she got the latest scanner report in."I don't believe it.. we _know_ they entered the system, but we can't tell where, and we can't tell how long the portal was open! It may have been opened out of sight of the city, and they could be still heading here, or they could be sitting right outside! And we can't _TELL_!"

Dot slammed the vidwindow down hard enough to crack it, and the sound of shattering glass echoed through the room like a crack of doom. Everyone stared at Dot, frozen in place as she placed her hands behind her back and started to pace.

"Ok, look.. there's only so many places they can be. It would have to be a place where no one goes, or at least isn't visited very often. That cuts out most of the city, and leaves... where?" Bob raised a hand and opened his mouth, then fell silent as Dot continued. "The industrial sector and the park... so-" she turned on her heel and pointed at a binome. "YOU, get teams into Floating Point Park and G-Prime, and have them start an intense search, for anything out of the norm. And I mean _ANY_thing! We have no idea how many came out of the portal, so this could even be a single viral binome or sprite. Get moving!"

The binomes erupted into action, moving with frantic haste, and troops scrambled to deploy. Dot was interrupted by a light cough, and she turned back to the table.

"Yes?"

Keevan raised an eyebrow, and nodded at Dana and Drake. "We would suggest sending a Player with each team of searchers; we are skilled in recognizing all types of viruses, including those you would have no experience with. There are enough of us that we can send a few with each team without breaking up the groups too much."

Dot thought it over for a moment, then nodded. Keevan glanced at the twins, then moved away from the main group for a whispered discussion. Keevan rejoined the table as the twins left, and the Player cleared his throat to capture the attention of the others.

"The Companions will be on the alert as well, to take care of any civilians who may get in the way of the virus - just so you won't have to worry about someone innocent getting flattened. I'll also send out the Players who aren't put with the searchers to look around the other sectors of the city, just in case they're hiding somewhere else."

Dot nodded and they got to work.

********

Kendra nodded at the VidWindow image of Drake and signed off, then turned to look at the group of binomes she had been assigned to help. None of them would look her in the eye, and quite a few of them actually ignored her entirely. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Ok, look, we've got our section to search-"

One of the one binomes stood up and turned to face the others. "Alright men, here we go. You know the rules, stick with your partner and no going off alone. If you think you may need help, call for it and wait for it. Now, lets get moving!"

Kendra stared in shock as the binomes of her search group ignored her and moved off. Rage misted her vision, and she felt the nails on her hands lengthen. Biting back the anger, she walked up to the binome in charge and cleared her throat.

"And to which team am I to be assigned? I will need to be near most of the teams, in case something suspicious is found." The one looked up at her and frowned.

"Look.. what's your name again?" The binome was not in a good mood, and he was rather abrupt.

"I am the Player Kendra Coron. I am ranked Third Player of-"

"Well look here Virus Coron, I'm Captain Le Chuck, in charge of this squad. We have a job to do, and we know how to do it. We also know how to deal with viruses, so you can just go back to your little group and 'play' with your friends, while we do some real work, alright?" He turned his back on Kendra and walked away, starting to move in a search pattern with his own partner.

Kendra narrowed her eyes as she watched the binome move, branding his image into her mind, recalling the way his voice sounded, how he had moved his hands. All these could help her pick him out of a crowd later on, or even in the dark. She let herself entertain the idea of meeting the captain in a dark alley, then dismissed it. For one thing, it would be totally unfair, she could cut through metal with her claws, a binome's body was nothing compared to that.

For another thing, challenging or deleting the captain would be a serious blow to her Player ranking, and if Matrix or Andraia found out, they would be justified in demoting her to Companion status for a Game month. And that was if she was lucky, and they were in a good mood. If not, they might decide to throw her out of the Players altogether. That had only happened a half dozen times since the founding of the Players, but it _had_ been done. Kendra shuddered; she had no desire to be dropped off in a non-connected system, stripped of the codes that made her a Player, and abandoned.

Keeping that in mind, Kendra uncurled her fists and took a few deep breaths. They didn't want her on their team? Well, that was too bad. She was stuck with them, and it was her job to protect them. That was why she was a Player, wasn't it? To help the people who couldn't fight for themselves, or protect themselves against their enemies. It was her job to keep them from getting killed, no matter what, even if they hated her for it.

Watching as her group spread out, she calmly walked down the center of the street, all her senses alert. At every building and alley, she paused and reached out with her viral senses. If there was a virus in the area using their viral abilities, she would be able to detect it.

Very aware of the hateful looks being cast her way, Kendra did her best to ignore them, and simply kept her mind on the job at hand. Kendra nodded slightly, satisfied that this one building of G-Prime had no viral taint, and started to pass the alley next to it to go into the next building, when all her senses suddenly shrilled.

Whipping out her double-headed spear, she flashed into attack mode, all her defenses up and ready. She knew she was attracting some attention from the binomes of her team; well, it was about time.

Kendra crept closer to the alleyway, all her senses practically screaming to her about a strong viral presence. She flicked a button on the shaft of her spear and the twin blades started to hum, spitting bright sparks of code-destroying viral energy. Narrowing her eyes to slits, she enhanced her night vision in order to peer into the darkness of the alley. As objects within it started to come into focus, she started to recognize certain shapes, and her stomach clenched as one of the shapes moved.

Tightening her grip, she took a step forward, wanting total confirmation before she alerted the other Players to the danger. If she called it in and it was a false alarm, it would end up taking Players away from other real danger spots.

More movement, much more this time, and Kendra started to step back, satisfied that the danger was real, when-

"And what do you think YOU're doing, Virus?"

Kendra didn't take her eyes off the shapes in the alley, but she could easily recognize the speaker as Captain Le Chuck from the hostility in his voice. She felt her lip curl slightly as he strutted in her direction, his voice getting louder, and if possible, even more obnoxious.

"I asked you a question, Virus! What in the Net do you think you're doing? And why are you doing it here? I thought I told you to..." Kendra stared into the alleyway, doing her best to ignore the binome Captain. She tuned out his voice, still aware of it, but managing to pay no attention to it. The creature in the alley was moving closer, coming towards the light...

Flexing her knees, she took a fighting stance, ready to meet the attack that was sure to come, and so was startled when someone stepped in front of her and shoved.

"What the-?" Eyes wide, Kendra stared down at the angry face of Captain Le Chuck, who started yelling at her again. Kendra felt a sudden cold flash, and knew what was going to happen. Frantic, she reached out and grabbed the binome's arm, diving to the right.

The huge dark blur missed her by inches, and she felt the dank wind of its passing ruffle her hair, and the stench made her stomach roil. Twisting her body to face the creature, she crouched over the shaking body of the binome Captain and readied her spear.

A scream of viral rage echoed through the street as the base level Class One raised it's misshapen head and bellowed a challenge to its relatively small opponent. Slime dripped from its twisted jaw, a jaw that was made not for eating, but for tearing and ripping, a jaw that fit the rest of the virus perfectly.

Base level class viruses were the mutants of the viral world, with very short life spans; their main goal in life was to destroy. With misshapen bodies that were essentially huge killing machines, coupled with a very low intelligence, base level viruses were the 'cannon fodder' of viral wars.

This particular virus, however, looked a bit more intelligent then the others Kendra had met up with before, as it stared at her and shambled forward carefully, talons twitching.

Kendra stepped in front of Le Chuck to protect him and slashed at the virus, cutting through the air with a high-pitched whine. The creature halted, massive head swinging from side to side for a moment as it stared at her and the binome, trying to determine if the danger was worth a bit of fun. Screeching, it started to move off towards the crowd of CPU binomes who were staring stupidly at the thing.

Gritting her teeth, Kendra ran at the Shambler, trying to regain it's attention, and had to scramble backwards as it lurched towards her faster then she had anticipated. Dodging a wickedly fast slashing attack, Kendra swiped at the thick arm with the blades of her spear, ripping through the tough skin and drawing an earsplitting shriek of pain from the monster.

The next moment, she found herself picking herself off the ground, shaking her head to clear it. The ground trembled and she threw herself to one side, again barely managing to escape the raking claws of the virus. They dug furrows in the ground, and Kendra whipped back with her spear, and managed to chop through the outstretched forearm. As the shambler screamed in pain and turned to her, she straightened the spear and shoved it into the Shambler's armored chest.

The monster reared back in pain and tried to shuffle away, letting out a high-pitched wail as it did so. Kendra decided to put it out of its misery as fast as she could, so she stepped up towards it when suddenly another shriek shattered the air. To her horror, she saw a second Shambler exit the alleyway and reach for the binome Captain, Le Chuck, who was pressing himself against the wall, trapped.

"Game crash! There's _more_!" Kendra kicked herself for not checking the alley for the other two members of a Shambler Triad, and leapt over the wounded Shambler in front of her. It snapped at her with its long twisted teeth as she jumped over, but stayed curled around the stub of its arm, now hissing and slowly dissolving from Kendra's viral poison.

The next few nanos were a blur as she tried to fend off both fully alert Shamblers as well as the wounded one. She could feel the Le Chuck holding onto one leg and she shook him off.

"What are you.. doing?! Get off me!" Dodging and ducking, she whirled trying to face each viral as it attacked her. "Where's my backup..." she muttered, catching another forceful blow on her spear. A sharp whistle caught her attention, and she looked up between parrying attacks. Le Chuck yelled in protest as Kendra reached down and seized his arm, then, to his horror, threw him up into the air, high over her head.

He screamed as all three Shamblers snapped at him with their wicked teeth and tried to snag him with their massive claws as he flew by them. He covered his eye and screamed again, then nearly choked in shock as he felt himself be grabbed from above. Looking up, he saw that a sprite on a zipboard had a good grip on him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Only when he was put down by the rest of his team did he remember Kendra...

Now that she was free of the binome, Kendra whirled like a dervish, slashing and chopping, ducking and rolling to stay away from the swift death of the Shamblers even as she dealt her own viral poison.

"Heyla Kend! Need a hand?" Kendra grinned as a voice called down to her, and was swiftly followed by the Player himself.

"Heyla yourself, Flame! Always glad to have you beside me in a fight." She tossed a grin at the slim Player as he slid in beside her and attacked one of the Shamblers. Two more Players dropped in from above as well, and Kendra grinned wolfishly as she turned from defense to the attack.

After that, deleting the three wounded monsters was simple, especially for four experienced Players. Glancing around at the damage from the battle, Kendra VidWindowed Keevan in the Principle Office and reported the fight. Logging off, she turned back to Captain Le Chuck and her search group, and the wierd looks she was getting from them. They weren't ignoring her any more, now they looked at her with awe and gratitude, and she let herself smile a bit. Seeing Le Chuck, she walked over to make sure he was alright. To her surprise, the look he gave her was one of grudging respect, and she smiled a bit more as he greeted her gruffly.

"I just wanted to say.. thanks. For what you did there, I mean. Especially considering what I said earlier..." Le Chuck looked up at her and frowned, and Kendra almost laughed as she realized what the problem was. He wouldn't dare show her anything _but_ respect after the show she had just put on, or risk losing his command over his men.

"No problem Captain... but I assume, now that you've seen me in action, you have no more doubts about my fighting ability?" There was just a hint of warning in her voice, and Le Chuck winced as he nodded.

"Glad to have you on board, Player Kendra. Now, when you're rested, we still have the rest of this sector to check out. If you'd look over these plans to make sure they suit you..."

Kendra and Flame grinned at each other as the binomes clustered around them, offering everything from patch kits to a cool energy shake.

"Quite a difference from earlier, I take it, Kendra?" Flame murmured as she tried to deal with the over-enthusiastic crowd.

"You could say that again..." she mumbled back, and tried once again to look at the search pattern the Captain was showing her.

********

"A Shambler Triad? What in the Net is a Shambler?" Bob and Keevan had headed out into the city after Kendra's report had come in, alerting the Players to the presence of at least one complete Triad in the city. Bob had wondered about Keevan's deadly seriousness as he sent word to the other Players, so he had been invited along with the young Matrix. Now they flew over Floating Point Park, looking for more signs of virals.

"A Shambler is a mutated virus.. a base level virus, in fact. Their individual intelligence is laughable, but when you get a group of them together, they seem to be able to share their brain power, so what you get from three of them is a very fast, six legged, six armed, three headed killing machine that can rip through most defenses in less then a nano."

Bob was shocked. "What happens if a big group of them gets together? Say.. ten of them?" Keevan shook his head.

"Actually, three seems to be the highest number they can tolerate.. Shamblers aren't the most sociable of viruses, and most of them would just as gladly attack another Shambler as they would a sprite. However, their low intelligence, coupled with their destructiveness, is what makes them perfect as first wave attackers."

Bob frowned. "First wave attackers? I seem to recall seeing something like these Shamblers before, but the systems the reports came from were usually viral by the time we checked on them. Are you saying that-"

"Powerful viruses usually throw a few dozen Triads into a system they want to take over, wait a bit, then enter the system and destroy whatever resistance is left. It's the easiest way for them, since their own forces don't get any real damage, and the Shamblers are expendable anyway."

Bob looked over the sector, his face dark. "So what you're telling me is that Mainframe is effectively under attack by a powerful virus who is looking to move in, right?" Keevan nodded. "Then-"

Suddenly the air in front of the two sprites came alive with VidWindows as Players from all over the city reported contact with Triads. Keevan hissed a curse as over twenty such groups were found, and Bob stared in shock, then quickly VidWindowed Dot to make sure she was safe.

Bob waited and waited for the window to connect, but nothing appeared on the screen but static..


	15. Chapter 15

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 15

Inside the Principle Office, Dot and Phong were working like madmen, trying to receive all the incident reports as well as alert the other teams about problem spots. Finally, Dot had enough of the chaos.

"_THAT'S IT_! Ok people, unless the person sending the message has included something about a virus, or a monster, or some kind of danger, don't accept the vidwindow! We've got too many people calling to complain about the wierd noises next door to take all these calls! Unless they have an emergency, let them ring!"

Dot turned back to the valid reports pouring in, Phong at her side. He looked up at her, worried.

"Dot, have you thought of what might happen if Bob tries to call? He may not be able to get through now that you've cut access from the VidWindows..." He motioned towards Kylla and Dixon who were being watched by a couple of Companions. "He will, no doubt, want to make sure you three are safe."

Dot glanced down at Phong between updating the status map.

"I'm sure he knows we're fine.. after all, we're inside the Principle Office, what could happen here?"

********

DeciCat and his codemate, CyberCat, ran down one of the lesser known passages of the Principal Office, searching for the virus that had left the markings on the walls. The two Players were from a distant system, and looked almost nothing like regular sprites. Their basic body shape was that of a normal sprite, but their eyes were solid colors that had a tendency to shift to match their mood. Up close, they were actually quite different; their skin wasn't regular 'skin' at all, but rather millions of tiny scales, providing a natural body armor.

Decicat's bronze skin was offset by his bright yellow shoulder length hair, and he used his collection of small hand guns like a professional.. which he was. He was also a master at using anything on-hand as a weapon; from a comb to a teakettle, Decicat could use anything to bring anyone down.

Cybercat was the perfect compliment to her mate, being as lithe as Deci was stocky, but she was still stronger then a regular system sprite her size. Like Deci, her skin was bronze, but her hair was a pale lavender. Her preferred weapon was a razor spiked spinning disk that she threw with amazing accuracy, and that could cut through almost anything.

For close fighting, the two had razor claws that would spring from the backs of their hands, in addition of their normal sharp talon-like fingers. They also needed no zipboards.. attached to their boots were energy blades that acted like a zipboard did, and let them, in effect, 'blade' around on the air.

Chasing after the virus, Deci held out a hand to Cybercat, and she froze in place.

"I think we had better switch to silent running... just in case it's waiting for us up ahead." Deci's eyes were a swirling yellow, revealing his worry. Cybercat grinned and readied one of her deletion disks, her own eyes a vibrant green with anticipation.

They hopped into the air a foot, and their blades came alive, letting them glide down the hallway without a sound. Decicat in the lead, the two Players continued their hunt.

********

"Dot, Bob is trying to VidWindow you.. he has been unable to get a message through before, and he needs to speak with you **NOW**." Dot blinked in surprise at the urgency in Phong's voice, and immediately flipped open a window to show Bob's worried face.

"DOT? Are you alright? I tried to get through earlier, but all I received was static! What's going on? Are things ok there?" Dot felt a twinge in her heart as she looked at her husband's anxious face, and she smiled tenderly.

"No, there's nothing wrong here. We were just getting overloaded with all the false alarms that I cut off all calls except for those that were reports about the virals. We've had so many... what are these 'Shambler' things, anyway?"

Keevan appeared in the background and shook his head, then zipped beside his uncle.

"The best short description for them is 'killing machines', Aunt. In groups of three, they can mow down your troops before they know they've been hit. Keep your people inside, and don't open your doors if you can help it. These things are _fast_, and you don't really want to see for yourself just how fast. It's a good thing this attack happened in the evening.. not too many people are out, but it's still light enough to see quite well. I don't want to think of what would have happened if this had happened right in the middle of the day.. it would be chaos. You can count yourself lucky they chose right now to attack, Aunt. It's the best thing that could have happened."

Dot shook her own head in reply, and smiled nervously. "I'll take your word for it Keevan... just be _careful_, alright Bob?" He smiled back and nodded.

"I'll be careful, I promise. You just make sure you stay inside, ok?" Bob grinned and shook a finger at Dot. "I know you... you'd be out here fighting too if you could, but stay in there anyway. The system needs you as more then it needs one more fighter. Besides.." He glanced over at Keevan. "We have an army of Players here, myself, plus a Prime Guardian - the system is better protected right now then it's ever been. So don't worry too much, things will be all right. We've got to go now Dot - we have to check this section of the city. I'll call back later. Bye!"

Dot smiled as she closed the VidWindow, then turned back to updating the system report with a sigh. It was going to be a long night..

*_skritch_*

"Shhh.. listen!"

*_scritchskritch_* *_screeeeeeeeee__**EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**_!!!*

Both Decicat and Cybercat winced and covered their ears as the slight scratching suddenly turned into the high pitched signature shriek of a Shambler on the trail of prey. Both of the Players knew that they were now in big trouble... the Shamblers had discovered they were being followed, and decided to turn the table on their pursuers. The stakes in this hunt had just jumped by a few hundred percent, and not in the favor of the Players.

Peering into the darkness ahead, Deci saw movement towards him and readied his guns. He could see at least two Shamblers heading for them, and said so to Cybercat. She blinked her now-yellow eyes in worry, and pointed out that the sounds that she heard were coming from one of the side passages.

They both froze in shock, then turned and started running for their lives back up the passageway. Behind them, the walls tore open as the two Triads that had been trying to box them in screamed in frustration and started running.

Deci and Cybercat zipped up the corridors as fast as they could, heading for the way up, then changed direction suddenly upon hearing yet more shrieks from in front of them.

"How many of them _are_ there?" Deci shouted, zipping back from one corridor as yet a fourth Triad appeared, jaws slavering and talons snatching at him.

"I don't know.. but we'd better get the heck out of here _fast_! AND let the others know about them, too! The MUST be protected!" Cybercat took the lead this time, and swerved around yet another corner into the main lobby of the level. They slid into the elevator and punched the buttons frantically to get the doors shut before the virals arrived.

"Come on.. come on! Close, defrag it!" Deci hit the button over and over, as Cybercat anxiously watched the passageways leading into the lobby. Just as the doors started to slide shut, the howling cries of the virals started to echo down the passageways leading into the room, growing louder with every breath. The doors clanged shut and the elevator started to rise, and the Players froze as they heard the sound of metal bending and tearing over the tinny Muzak.

Their eyes spinning red with alarm, Deci and Cybercat looked at each other, then up at the ceiling, at the escape hatch. Deci hit the controls and jammed them in between levels as Cybercat jumped up and popped the hatch. Scrambling up through the small square hole, they looked up into the blackness above; to get up to the main control room, they would have to climb over fifty floors. Deci sighed and put one foot on an emergency ladder on the side of the shaft as Cybercat started to climb up the ladder on the opposite side. Loud thumps on the bottom of the elevator cart made the Players climb faster, cursing about the smallness of the elevator shaft that kept them from using their zipblades.

Cybercat paused after a few levels and opened up a VidWindow.

"Mrs. Matrix? You have trouble heading your way. Lock the main control room and keep everyone in... you have Shamblers INSIDE the Principle Office. Call for backup.. NOW!"

********

Turbo was just finishing off the last of a Triad when the call came through to Dana from the Principle Office. He was working with the twins, and he liked what he saw of their fighting style. As he cut through the neck of the virus in front of him, deleting it, he heard Dana tell Drake about Dot being in possible danger.

"Dot's in trouble?" He glanced towards the twins as they chatted, and saw them turn to stare at him. He grinned and tapped one ear. "Hey.. being the Prime means you have better hearing then 99 percent of other sprites.. so, what's going on inside the Principle Office?"

"Two players just escaped being ripped apart by at least four Triads in the lower levels.. they only got away by jamming an elevator and climbing up the shaft." Dana shook her head. "I know Deci and Cybercat.. and if they say the is in danger, then they are. We're the nearest team, and we've been called in."

Drake said he'd stay behind to gather the rest of their search party, then follow as soon as they could. Dana and Turbo flew off to the Principle Office after letting Dot know they were on their way.

********

"_AAAAAAAAAAA_!!"

Binomes ran every which way, scrambling around for the exits and screaming at the top of their lungs until Dot finally yelled "_THAT'S ENOUGH_! Hack! Slash!"

Hack and Slash, who had been cowering in a corner, suddenly straightened and zoomed over in front of Dot.

"Yes Dot?"

"Yes Boss?"

"Hey, you should not call her boss, her name is Dot."

"Yes, but Dot is our boss, so you should not call her Dot."

"But you should not-"

"HACK! SLASH!"

"Yes boss?"

Dot shook her head and wondered again how Megabyte had managed to stop from scrapping the two drones nanos after he had made them. They were impossible to talk to! But.. she had to admit that they were loyal, and they truly meant well.

"Ok, guys? We just had reports that there are viruses in the Principle Office, and I want you two to be on your guard. If you hear anything strange, let me know right away, understand? And be ready to fight, too."

"Hear something strange?"

"She means a wierd noise."

"Is all this screaming wierd?"

"I think so.. maybe we should tell her about that."

"I think so too. Dot? D'oh.. I mean - Boss?"

"I told you not to call her Dot! Now look what you've done. She is shaking her head now. Look, she is getting mad."

"Why is she getting mad? I did not do anything to make her mad."

"I think you did. You called her Dot. Oops.. Did I just call her Dot too?"

"Yes you did, now she is going to be mad at both of us."

"Argh! I give UP! Those two are crazy!"

"Maybe she is going to go away now?"

"But going away would be bad, there are bad things around that could hurt her."

"Yes, bad things, so we will protect her, just like a baby again."

"Like a baby? I do not think Bob would like that Hack.."

Dot rolled her eyes and smiled as Phong shook his head at her, but both Hack and Slash started to patrol the top level of the control room near the walls, listening for trouble.

"Dot, should we prepare to evacuate like before? The escape tunnels are still in place..."

Dot spun and stared at Phong, fear shooting through her. The two sprites turned and stared at the wall which held the hidden exit, trying to see if there was any movement there.

"The emergency exit leads straight down to the lower levels, and then out into the city. It's the only way out of the Principle Office that wasn't being guarded because no one else knows it's there..."

She stared at Phong, horrified, then watched as he started getting the binomes in the office armed and ready to fight off an attack.

"How else could the viruses have gotten into the Principle Office unnoticed unless they came in through the escape tunnel?"

Hack and Slash rolled over to her, trading worried looks.

"Dot? Should we check the tunnel for you?"

"Maybe we should, we do not want anything to hurt her."

The two bots went over to the wall and stared at it, just as a loud pounding started on the main doors.

"DOT! Let us in - We've brought help!"

Dot hit the release button and unlocked the main doors, letting Turbo and Dana into the room. They nodded their thanks, then looked over the assorted armed binomes with approval.

"Boss?"

"Have you heard from Deci and Cybercat yet?" Dana checked the charge on her gun and unsnapped the holster.

"Boss?"

"Nothing from them since their message to get help.. I've tried to VidWindow them but can't get hold of them.. do you think-?"

"Um.. Boss?"

"Those two can handle a lot of trouble, and if they were on their way here on foot, they might not have had time to get here yet... if they had Shamblers chasing them, there's no way they'd lead them right here if they could help it."

"_**Boss**_?"

"_WHAT_?" Dot turned to Hack who was rolling around behind her in tiny circles. Slash was by the wall, still staring at it.

"You remember you asked us to tell you about wierd noises?"

Dot nodded, and both Turbo and Dana tensed.

"Well.. there are some wierd noises-"

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

"For User's sake.. let us IN!! They're coming!"

Dot hit the button again and the doors whipped open, revealing the two missing Players. The assorted sprites gasped as they saw the condition of the Players, then rushed forward to help.. that is, everyone except for Hack and Slash, who were now rolling around in circles in a panic.

Cybercat and DeciCat were bruised and bleeding from a few dozen wounds, their clothing torn and viral ichor streaking their bodies. Breathing hard, they waved off most offers of help. Cybercat saw Dana and straightened.

"A Matrix..? Good. Lady, we have a _big_ problem.. there are at least six Triads following us, and they pretty much have control over the lower half of the Principle Office. Right now, being on the streets of the city would be safer then right here."

"_**DOOOOOT**_!"

"What-?" They all turned at Slash's wailing, and saw Hack trying to hold the wall together. The emergency exit doors had slid open a small crack, and what she could see through the space made her shiver.

A loud screeching came from behind the wall Hack was holding, and Dana threw herself between Dot and the wall to protect her. Almost on cue, pounding started on the main door of the control room, pounding heavy enough to dent the thick metal. Dot looked from one door to the other as her forces started to set up against the doorways, ready to blast anything that came in.

Slash joined Hack at the wall, but even with the two of them trying to hold it closed, it was slowly being forced open. Huge gnarled claws were thrust through the crack, and two glowing eyes peered out of the darkness to stares at the sprites. Dot shivered; she could practically feel the hate in that gaze.

The eyes seemed to grab her attention, and the rest of the room faded away, unimportant when compared to the glowing eyes in the darkness. The greenish glow promised peace, pleasure, an absence of fear... and Dot took a step forward.

Dot blinked back tears of pain as she looked up at Dana from the floor. Dot shook her head and felt her jaw, sore from the punch that had knocked her down.

"What the-?"

"_DOT_! Are you ok? Frag it.. I should have warned you.. don't look them in the eyes! They can hypnotize you and make you walk right up to them.. are you all right now?"

Dot was staring at Dana, astonished at how closely the younger woman resembled her, then shook her aching head again and accepted the helping hand Dana stretched out. As she stood, both women glanced at the emergency exit again. The emerald eyes still shone from the widening crack, but Dot didn't look at them. Behind the eyes, there was a lot of movement, and Dot didn't want to know just how many of the virals were hiding there, only a few feet away.

The sound of tearing metal brought her around, and she cried out in horror as the first Shambler forced its way through the rent in the control room doors. It went down under a rain of gunfire from Dot's crew, but was soon followed by others, and when they went down, even more.

They forced their way into the control room, slashing and snapping, only a few at first, then as soon as the Mainframers had grouped together, they attacked in force. More then a few binomes screamed in fear as Shamblers burst from the walls, breaking open the doors of the escape hatch as well as ripping the mangled metal of the main doors away.

Virals poured in, but the Players fought back, keeping Dot, Phong, the children and the Companions in the very center of the defenders. Dot had taken out her gun and was firing off shots, but her weapon was much too light to do serious damage, unless she hit an eye or throat. She kept firing though; if one of her shots distracted a viral long enough for a Player to delete it, it would be worth draining her gun dry.

A binome in the front ranks fell victim to a powerful slash, and his gun flew out of his hands as he deleted, right into Dot's. She didn't think twice, but just started shooting where she could. All she knew was that her children were in danger, and she would do anything to keep them safe.

Her gun finally went dead and she threw it away and looked around. To her shock, only a dozen defenders were left, and there were still a good number of Shamblers. Even as she watched another binome fell prey to the snapping jaws of a virus, screaming as it dragged him off to feed.

The numbers of Shamblers had dropped as well though, and now there were few enough of them that they were no longer getting in each other's way. However, the was protected too well for any attack to get through, and in trying, more then one virus attacked another who crowded it.

The Players had not managed this without taking damage themselves though, Decicat and Cybercat had been wounded and tired before the main attack, and Turbo and Dana had already faced down a Triad. All four were now only a few steps away from exhaustion, but still fighting.

They had to. They simply had no choice.

Suddenly, a Shambler at the very back turned around and started for the main entrance, howling its signature shriek. Just as it got to the doorway, its upper body exploded in a burst of light and it deleted, clearing the way for Drake Matrix and his supporters. Seeing the state of the defenders, they slammed into the back ranks of the virals, pushing the attack.

The defenders cheered and pushed forward, fighting raggedly now with only the dregs of their energy left, and that was their undoing. The Players tried to drag the binomes back, but they dove forward, taking greater risks.. and paid for it with their lives.

The Shamblers turned on the binomes with a ferocity they hadn't seen before, and they tried to escape even as they died. Dana did her best to protect those around her, but she was on her last wind and was slowing. Drake saw and led two other fighters in her direction, cutting a path through. They had almost made it when disaster struck.

Drake had just slashed the arm of one Shambler as it swiped at Dana, then turned back to defend against another when one of his partners slipped. With the sprite down, the virus he had been fighting saw an opening.. and took it.

Reaching out across the downed sprite, the virus snapped out its talons, hooking them into Drake's side and spinning him around. A second strike, lighting fast while Drake froze in pain, sliced cleanly through his chest armor and into the skin and bone beneath it. The other Player struck up at the virus, driving his spear into the thing's head and killing it, but the damage had been done.

Drake fell, energy pumping from his wounds, and Dana saw him fall.

"DRAKE!!!" Gathering herself, Dana lunged through the virals too quickly for them to stop her and positioned herself over the body of her twin. Snarling, she struck out at the nearest Shambler hard enough to literally knock its head off. All the Players fought with renewed vigor after Drake fell, and the last viral was finally cornered and killed.

While the other Players took care of the Shamblers, Dana dropped to her knees and gathered Drake in her arms. Tears sliding down her cheeks, she gently smoothed his hair back from his face. Rocking slightly, she closed her eyes and let out a sob, knowing that there was no way help would arrive in time.


	16. Chapter 16

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 16

"DOT! Are you all right, my child?" Dot looked up at Phong, her arms wrapped around her sobbing children. There were a few drops of energy splattered on their young faces, and Dot quickly wiped them away before they could notice. Holding them tightly, she rocked them back and forth slightly to calm their crying.

"What is it Phong? Are you hurt? We'll need medics..."

Phong placed one hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "I am sorry to say that no medic could possibly get here in time to save your nephew. He is.. surely beyond help by now."

Dot's head snapped up and she stared at Phong in shock.

"What...? WHO?" Dot sprang to her feet, leaving the children in the arms of the two Companions who held them as tightly as Dot had. Picking her way through the bodies of her control room staff and various Players, Dot finally saw Dana and Drake and gasped in shock.

Drake lay in a widening pool of energy as it pumped from his massive wounds, but he was still functioning - barely. Dana sat beside him, hunched over his body, vainly trying to stem the rush of life-giving energy from his body.

Looking at Drake, Dot suddenly saw her brother's face superimposed over his son's, and she shuddered. Shaking her head to rid her mind of the morbid image, she took the last few steps that would place her at Dana's side.

Kneeling across from her niece, Dot was once again struck by the similarity, and the image of her herself holding Matrix's broken body flashed before her eyes. Blinking hard, she reached out and gently touched Dana's hand where she was holding on to her brother so desperately.

"Dana...?" Dot looked down at Drake's half-open eyes and felt her heart shiver at the amount of pain there. A small trickle of energy ran from between his lips and Dot felt her eyes fill with tears. With that much damage, there was nothing even the best doctors could have done, even if they'd been on hand when it happened.

Dot bowed her head and tried to think of how she would have to welcome Matrix back to Mainframe with the news of his son's deletion. Her eyes were closed and streaming tears, so she didn't see Dana suddenly straighten and wipe her own tears away.

The young woman's hand crept up to her icon and grasped it, then paused as she took a deep breath. Dot looked up in time to see Dana remove her icon and switch it with Drake's. Dot looked at her, puzzled, and grew more puzzled yet as Dana took her brother's flickering icon and placed it on her own chest.

In one smooth move, she gently placed Drake flat on the floor, pushed Dot away from his body, and then tapped her new icon, saying only, "Player encrypt."

The remaining Players nodded sadly while Dot's remaining personnel stared at what happened to Drake. His form shimmered and was quickly covered by a crackling blue energy that crept out of his new icon, surrounded his body and solidified into a form of crystal.

Dot reached forward and placed her hand on the blue-tinged casing, looking up at Dana in bewilderment.

"What.. what.. what did you do?"

The young woman sighed tiredly and rubbed her new icon, then crumpled slowly, almost as if it were happening in slow motion. Turbo stumbled forward and managed to catch her before she cracked her head open on a console, but he was just as puzzled as Dot was.

The Prime Guardian lay Dana down beside her brother as Decicat stepped forward and checked her pulse. After a moment, the older Player nodded and leaned back.

"She'll be ok, it's just the transfer shock and energy drain on top of exhaustion. Dana will recover after some sleep and a good batch of energy to replace what she lost, but Drake...?" Decicat shook his head and sighed. Dot grew cold at the thought of Drake dying and shivered, then looked up at Decicat as he continued.

"Drake needs an Archivist.. preferably a high-ranking one, and a team of healers." Cybercat came over and helped her mate stand back up again, and answered Dot's unspoken questions.

"Only an Archivist can unlock that encryption, and only a high-ranking one can unlock it but not _open_ it long enough for the healers to fix Drake up so he doesn't delete the nano that lock comes off. All I can say is, it's a good thing Keevan called the Matrix, the Master Archivist and the Chief Engineer should be arriving with him."

The two Players shuffled back a bit to tend to their wounds, leaving Dot and Turbo to stare at each other, bewildered.

"The _who_??" Dot got unsteadily to her feet and followed Cybercat and Decicat over to where all the Players and Companions had gathered. Turbo reached out and supported her after she nearly slipped in a puddle of viral ichor, and the two went off to confront the wounded fighters.

Dot looked around her control room and winced; it would take minutes to clean up the damage, and the loss of life would mean the system would be running at less-then top condition without its trained personnel. She looked up at Turbo and he nodded, and she realized that he was probably thinking the same as she was.

"Don't worry Dot, as soon as we can open a connection to the SuperComputer, I'll have replacement crews and equipment on their way. You won't be left to fend for your..self..."

Turbo turned towards the main panels even as Dot ran over to them and punched in a request for a system report, then tried to open a VidWindow to Bob.

********

Bob and Keevan had met up with and supported 3 teams of Players and their search crews in their fight against the virals. They had gathered at an intersection to catch their breath, and Bob took the time to VidWindow Dot. Once again he sat staring at an empty vidwindow for a moment, then, just before he gave up and closed it down, the window connected.

Bob's gasp of shock attracted the attention of all the Players, and they couldn't help but feel the surprise too. The scene in the vidwindow was one of chaos... bodies lay scattered around the room, most of them with others over them, in the midst of tending wounds. Bob only had eyes for Dot however, and for her tear-streaked and energy splattered face. Her eyes were filled with pain, and Bob felt his heart freeze at the sound of children crying in the background.

"Dot? What _happened_?! Are you ok? What-"

"Bob? Oh dear User.. is Keevan still with you?" The urgency in Dot's voice started an itchy feeling down Bob's spine, and he knew something was _very_ wrong. Keevan came up beside Bob and bit his lip at Dot's shadowed eyes.

"Keevan.. what's the ETA of Matrix and his group, do you know? He has skills that are... needed." Dot swallowed hard and glanced to one side for a moment, then back at the vidwindow.

"It's Drake," Dot sighed. "He's been- pretty badly hurt. Dana did something to put him in some sort of encrypted file lock, but the Players here say that he needs a Master Archivist to unlock it for healers to work on him." She sighed again and rubbed one side of her face tiredly. "Just about everyone else is hurt, and over half my crew was deleted... but the Principal Office is back on-line."

Bob winced; he knew how much Dot cared for her people, and her crews had become more of an extended family rather then just people she worked with. But.. Drake was down? How-

"Commander, I'm not certain of when the next Game will arrive right now, but if you'd like me to check?" Keevan tilted his head to one side and peered up at the sky. Frowning, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

********

Dot watched her nephew through the VidWindow and wondered again just _how_ he managed to check on the Games. Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he jerked in shock. "Commander! There's been a change in the User's schedule! I don't know why, but-" _fssssshhhhhhhhh_ Dot blinked at the static that now filled the screen.

"Keevan? _KEEVAN_!? What the heck is wrong with this now..." She banged the side of the VidWindow, but the only thing it showed was static. Dot frowned, then said "Rewind 2 nanos, pause, playback, quarter speed." Turbo looked over Dot's shoulder and watched as the VidWindow rewound and started to play back the scene. Dot watched carefully as Keevan slowly acted out his way of checking for Games. Turbo muttered something and pointed to a building behind the young man, and Dot told the vidwindow to stop playback.

"What is that?" Turbo tapped his knuckle against the reflection of a shimmering light in a window behind Keevan. Dot zoomed in and blinked. Just faintly, she could make out the shape of a portal, distorted by the glass.

"A portal? From where though? And who came through it?" Squinting at the blurred image, Dot sighed and rubbed her eyes. "There's only one thing we can do now.."

Turbo looked on with growing respect as Dot managed to coax some response from the control room's systems and start regulating the incoming reports. As Players reported the clearing of various sectors, she sent them Keevan's last known location with a direct command to get there NOW.

Turbo watched the glowing dots that represented the Players moving towards one spot on the city map, and suddenly felt his knees grow weak. Leaning casually against the railing, he glanced around to see if anyone noticed. Dot hadn't but a few of the other Players had, and their gentle smiles lessened the sting of having had his weakness exposed. He was the Prime.. he couldn't afford to appear weak. Straightening up, he cleared his throat, and held up his chin as Dot turned to look at him.

"Should I go out there as well, or do you think they'll be ok?" Dot smiled and a few of the Players grinned openly at the Prime Guardian's assumption that things wouldn't go right without his help. She shook her head and fought down the grin that threatened to spread across her face.

"I'm sure they'll be fine Turbo.. besides, I need you here." He let out a small sigh of relief at not having to move anywhere, and Dot turned away to hide her grin. The few remaining staff members slowly started assisting her again in bringing the Principle Office back to full operation, and Dot breathed a sigh of relief of her own as the second shift of personnel filtered into the room.

Now her people could sit back and let the others share the burden.. unlike herself, who was the only one who could run the city. Taking a deep breath, Dot started issuing orders to the medical staff who came in, and got her people and the Players who had protected them the help they needed. Glancing again at the prone bodies of her niece and nephew, Dot closed her eyes and did something she'd never dreamed of before.. she prayed to the User that he sent the next Game soon.

********

Keevan yelled a warning and backed up as the VidWindow he'd been using warped and shattered as a portal opened almost directly on it. The Players jumped up and readied themselves for battle as three large portals opened up and spat Shamblers at them.

Bob and the others backed up into groups of five or larger, and fought for their lives against the twenty virals that had been dumped into the square. Keevan slammed to one knee as an overhead strike by a Shambler got past his guard, and he cried out in pain as the serrated edges of the thing's arm ripped into his shoulder. Bob managed to strike a fatal wound to that Shambler, but another one replaced it too quickly to give Keevan any time to recover. One of the Players fighting with them went down without a cry, deleted before he hit the ground, and Bob knew they couldn't hold out much longer.

Keevan struggled to his feet, energy streaming from his wound, but he could no longer raise his left arm, and his right was already tired. There was no way he could attack anymore, so he switched to the defense. Gritting his teeth, Keevan put his back to Bob's and fended off the blows aimed at the Guardian.

"Keevan! How you holding up?" Bob had to shout to be heard over the shrieks and screams filling the intersection, and tried to glance over his shoulder while fighting the virals in front of him. He was using a spear that had been dropped earlier, and had infused it with energy. Hitting the Shamblers with any part of it now would feel like he'd hit them with an energy cannon.

"Just keep.. fighting.. Bob! I'll be.. fine." Keevan bit his lip as he dodged the razor claws of a Shambler and used his own arm spines to sever the wrist of the attacker. The Shambler drew back, but as he moved a step forward to press the attack, Keevan slipped and his wounded arm took the brunt of the shock.

Biting through his lip in an effort not to scream, Keevan looked up from the ground to see the dripping jaws of a virus snapping towards him..

..only to watch it explode in a burst of light as an expertly placed shot deleted the viral.

Keevan's head snapped around to see Kendra and her partner Flame heading a large group of attacking Players. Kendra let loose with a shriek of her own as she attacked the Shamblers. In less then a dozen heartbeats there were some thirty new Players in the square, with still more appearing every moment. Bob looked down at Keevan and extended a hand as the Shamblers surrounding them broke and ran down one of the wide streets.

Keevan grasped Bob's hand and let himself be hauled to his feet even as Kendra ordered the other Players to make sure the virals were destroyed. The Companions who followed the Players picked up the wounded and headed towards either one of the temporary medical shelters or to one of the system's hospitals. In less then a nano, only Bob, Keevan and Kendra were left in the intersection.

As they wrapped Keevan's arm and shoulder up in bandages, Bob couldn't help but ask Kendra, "Where in the Net did you _come_ from? How did you know we needed help?"

Kendra grinned and tightened the wrappings a bit more. "Well, when we sent in our 'all clear' message to the Principal Office, Dot gave us these co-ordinates and said, in no uncertain terms, to get our bitmaps here NOW. She couldn't tell us what to expect, but said only that you guys would probably need as much help as possible. So- we all came. There's more on the way I think.. there was one last Triad over on the other side of the system that was causing trouble - they broke into an apartment building, I believe."

Keevan ducked his head and lifted his chin at Kendra when she tried to wipe the energy from his lip off his face.

"I can do that.. I'm not dead -yet-, Kendra," the Player grumbled. Bob and the half-viral grinned as she gave him a scrap of cloth so he could do it himself. Wincing as the pain in his shoulder, Keevan tucked the cloth into his belt and stood.

"Talk about your bad luck.. to be right in the middle of them when the portals opened!" Bob shook his head. "What are the odds of that? Well, I'd better call Dot and see what else has come up..." Bob opened a VidWindow, and sighed in relief as it connected to Dot immediately.

"Dot! Thanks for the help.. it came at just the right time."

"Bob! You're ok? What happened? All we could figure out was that more portals had opened, and you guys were right in the middle of them." Behind the , the control room was starting to look somewhat normal again.. normal for war-time, anyway. Panels were still ripped open and wiring was hanging out all over, but at least the wounded had been treated and there was a full shift hard at work.

Bob could see Turbo standing behind Dot and relaxed as the Prime nodded his head once, slightly. Bob smiled, knowing that Turbo wouldn't leave Dot's side; no matter what happened out in the city, the would be protected. He looked at Dot again and let the charge go out of the spear he held.

"We're surviving... we lost a few more people in this attack, and Keevan was hurt pretty bad, but he'll be ok after a visit to the hospital. Kendra here led the Players you sent and chased off the virals.. they're being hunted down right now. What about the situation on the other side of the city? I heard mention of Shamblers breaking into a building?"

Dot nodded. "They broke down a wall and smashed into an empty gym.. the Companions managed to evacuate the binomes while the Players got the virals back out into the street. They're almost done cleaning that up now, and most of them should be moving in on your position. I didn't know how much trouble you were in, so I sent everyone." Dot smiled weakly in apology as Keevan chuckled.

"You wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt, eh Aunt? Well, he managed pretty good... for a non-Player." Kendra grinned and swatted Keevan lightly on his undamaged arm. He stuck his tongue out at her in response and turned back to the VidWindow and a grinning Dot. "No worries... dad will probably name him a Player when he arrives anyway. He certainly fights well enough."

Turbo cleared his throat and stepped up beside Dot, who shifted over a bit. "So just when _is_ your father arriving, Keevan? Dana and Drake are in pretty bad shape.. the doctors don't know how long they can keep Dana-"

*_fshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_*

Bob grabbed Keevan and pulled the wounded Player behind him as yet _another_ portal opened up. This one dwarfed the others that had opened, and the viral interference scrambled the VidWindow connection. Bob recharged his weapon as Kendra did the same, and they backed up, wincing at the amount of wild energy flares the viral portal was giving off. When the glare faded and the three could see again, they stared in shock at who was revealed.

********

"_BOB_! Defrag it, not _**again**_!" Dot turned from the static-filled window and brought up another one, tuned to the 'all-hands' channel Keevan had told her would contact all the Players in-system at the same time.

"This is Dot Matrix, of Mainframe speaking. All system forces not currently fighting any virals are ordered to the co-ordinates being sent now. We have a _very_ large portal that was open for at least a nano, and only 3 wounded personnel in place at the time. I repeat.. if you are not currently engaged in battle, get there NOW!"

Dot closed the channel and turned back to the VidWindow where she had last seen Bob. Checking the system reports and readings on that sector, Dot felt her heart sink.

Bob had looked tired, so had Kendra and Keevan, and all three had been fighting since the night began. Not only that, but Keevan was hurt badly, and couldn't fight. Even she could tell that her nephew would need time in a hospital before he was battle-ready again. Closing her eyes, Dot leaned against the control board and rested her weight against it for a moment. She longed to be out there at his side, fighting next to him, making sure he would be safe... but knew that if she was out there, the rest of the system could fall for the sake of one sprite.

She looked up as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw Turbo's concern through eyes blurred by the onset of tears. Taking a deep breath, she let herself lean against his supporting arm for a moment. Carefully wiping the beginnings of tears away, she reached forward and pointed out some readings to the Prime; at the same time, she reached her other hand up and squeezed the one he had on her shoulder, the look in her eyes thanking the Prime for his care.

He gave her a crooked smile and stepped back, and she realized that no one else had seen - Turbo had blocked her moment of uncertainty from the view of the others in the room. Smiling at him again in thanks, she took another deep breath and turned back to organizing the city's defenses to help her husband.

********

Bob stared at the three figures who had come out of the portal and now stood facing himself, Keevan and Kendra. 'Three tired fighters.. against _them_?? There's no way...'

The three arrivals were fully viral - no doubt about that. The lead virus, a female, reminded Bob uncannily of Daemon - the leprous green hair coiled and writhed around the head and shoulders of the bright scarlet-skinned woman who bared pointed teeth and stared at the three with eyes a deep black that seemed to pull you into them. Bob shook his head and glanced at the others.

They appeared to be related - one was a bit larger then the other, and had more weapons, but the older seemed to be smaller and moved faster. Their metal skins were an eye-blinding yellow, and their markings were red, green and blue, but it was their eyes that shocked Bob the most.. they were bright red, with tiny black dots for pupils, and from the silly grins pasted on their faces and the high-pitched giggling, they looked completely insane.

The Guardian almost stepped back as the three virals pinned him with their gaze, but, he reminded himself, appearances had to be kept.

"I am Guardian 452 of system Mainframe - state your names and functions!" His voice rang through the echoing intersection and came back to him undercut by snickering and giggling from the two look-alike viruses. All heads turned towards the first virus as she answered Bob.

"I?" The virus's voice hissed and grated on the nerves of the three sprites. "I am Liren.. and these two are members of the Wyn Clan. Nineyate," and Liren pointed to the larger and younger virus, "and Nineyfav," she pointed to the older, smaller virus.

"Normally, a virus such as myself would have nothing to do with virals of _that_ caliber, but we do have one thing in common - a wish for the deletion of the killers of the greatest virus ever.. Daemon!" Liren bared her fangs in a toothy smile as she stared at the three sprites. "We were her most dedicated followers.. the others have all given up and gone back to their normal pitiful lives.. but Daemon's death _MUST_ be avenged! The destruction of this system and all in it will be a fitting start to the payback that is due. I must thank you Guardian - for making our task easier. We now have no need to waste any time searching for you, as you seem to have been kind enough to have met us here."

Bob swallowed hard as the Wyn siblings licked their lips and watched the energy drip from Keevan's bound shoulder, and he knew that deletion at the hands of these three would be a long time coming, should they be beaten.

"Three sprites.. hurt and alone.. I think we can take our time with these ones, Wyns. There's no one to help them now..." The virals laughed, the sound echoing up and around the dark buildings, filling the three with fear, and the sprites shivered and braced themselves for the first attack.


	17. Chapter 17

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

part 17

All three viruses grinned at the sprites, but Liren stood back as the Wyn twins started to circle around the wounded Players. Sniffing the air and grinning like fools, the huge viruses stared at the sprites as if they were a gourmet meal.

Kendra and Keevan shivered slightly and tightened their grips on their weapons, darting nervous looks at Bob. The Guardian narrowed his eyes, glaring at the gloating Liren, then suddenly and quite unexpectedly, straightened and smiled. He released the charge on his spear and grounded it as if he had no worries in the Net. Both Players stared at him as if he were crazy, and even the viruses were wary as Bob smiled at them.

"You know... you seem to have done a pretty good job here, Liren." Everyone blinked at Bob as he glanced around and nodded slightly. "I mean, you've sent in a few dozen Triads to get rid of the fighters, and they've done a fair bit of damage.. not a lot, but a fair bit." Bob glanced over at his nephew and winked slightly, then turned back to Liren.

"But you know something, Liren? You've forgotten something." Bob leaned on his spear and grinned at the virus. All three sprites watched as the virals edged closer together as if sensing an impending doom.

"You speak nonsense, Guardian! We have planned for everything! We have invested too much in this for us to fail now - and we will NOT fail! You and this system will die for the glory of Daemon!" Liren snarled fiercely, yet her eyes darted around the dark intersection, betraying her growing fear.

Bob chuckled and shook his head, then straightened again and cast another glance around the dark buildings.

"Actually Liren, you've forgotten one very large detail. You know this is the anniversary of Daemon's deletion, which is why you chose this time to attack, but you've forgotten that we celebrate this day, here in this system more then most. Because of this, we also have a very large amount of fighters visiting..."

Liren snarled as the Wyn twins closed in tighter around her, gibbering in fear, until she threw them off.

"ENOUGH! No more lies, Guardian! Now.. you _die_." Liren flicked open razor sharp claws and advanced. The Wyn twins followed, gathering courage from Liren's anger, and Nineyate started its high-pitched giggles again.

Keevan and Kendra shivered and stared at the advancing viruses, tossing worried looks at Bob every few heartbeats as they got closer. Bob looked totally unconcerned, and in fact, his grin grew wider with every heartbeat.

This unnerved Liren so much that she actually halted a body-length away from the three sprites and glared at Bob. The Guardian simply chuckled and pointed behind her.

"Liren.. you may want to look behind you."

"No you don't, Guardian.. that has to be the oldest so-called 'trick' in the Net." Liren raised a foot to step forward when a cough behind her shocked her into immobility. Her eyes widened and her claws started to shake slightly as the rustling sounds of Players entering the intersection filled the air. Bob could see them out of the corner of his eye.. twenty, thirty, forty Players and Companions, as well as the system's CPU forces - they had surrounded the six figures and now stood ready to attack.

Bob smiled into Liren's eyes. "For what you have done to my system, to my home and to my family, I have no pity for you or for what will happen in the next few nanos." The eyes of all three viruses were fixed upon Bob's face, watching him with a sort of sick horror. "Farewell."

Bob tossed off a mocking salute to Liren, then turned and ushered Keevan and Kendra ahead of him, out of the intersection and onto one of the streets. There was a flurry of activity in the square as the amassed Players closed in on the virals, and a single short scream echoed down the otherwise silent streets.

Bob took a deep breath and headed towards the Principle Office, finally able to relax.

********

When Bob finally made it back to the Principle Office, Kendra was helping him stay upright as he walked the halls to the main control room. Keevan had been dropped off at a hospital, and Bob had been tended for his own wounds at the same time. Bob would have ended up remaining in the hospital alongside Keevan except for the fact that he had insisted he had to get back to Dot. The doctors had reluctantly agreed, as long as Kendra went with him - there were too many wounded that needed space in the hospitals.

The two made their way down the corridors of the PO, stepping over puddles of viral ichor and destroyed wall panels, eventually ending up at the main control room. Most of the mess here had been cleaned up, but the doors would still have to be replaced. One of Dot's staff saw them enter and pointed towards the 's office, so they headed there.

The doors opened at Bob's knock to reveal a stern-faced Turbo, who stepped back as soon as he saw who it was. Bob and Kendra shuffled in as Turbo closed the doors behind them, making sure not to disturb the two figures lying on the blanket-covered floor.

Bob looked over at Dot and saw her holding their sleeping children in her arms; casting a last glance at Dana and Drake, Bob made his way over to her. He joined Dot in calming their twins while Turbo spoke softly to Kendra.

"Bob, is Keevan going to be ok? How badly was he hurt? For that matter.." Dot frowned as she looked at his pale face, "How badly were _you_ hurt? I didn't see anything wrong on the VidWindow...?"

Bob quickly shook his head, then paused to get his breath back and to stop the room from spinning. "No, just drained of energy and sore.. I think I'm just one big walking bruise. I don't think I could even power a light-bulb right now."

Dot smiled and hugged him carefully, resting her head on his shoulder. They let out a sigh as they relaxed in each other's arms, cradling their children between them.

Turbo chuckled softly as he watched the couple, Kendra smiled and nudged his arm. "What's so funny?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's just that I'm trying to fit this image of a happily wedded Bob with the young, brash Guardian he once was. He all but swore he would never get married, that he'd stay 'free' for his entire life." Turbo chuckled again. "It's one heck of a change from his attitude now, I'll tell you that."

Kendra smiled and looked over at Bob, now saying a few quiet words to Kylla and Dixon, reassuring them that he was all right. Kendra looked back over at the two silent forms behind her and shivered slightly. Dana hadn't woken up at all since the icon transfer, and that meant something was wrong... or did it? She had only seen one other icon transfer before, and it hadn't worked. Hopefully, this time would be different.

"Bob?" Dot frowned, remembering something from earlier. "Didn't Keevan say something about a Game...?" Bob sat upright so fast he nearly fell off his seat.

"A Game? That's right.. he did! Just before the attack! We have to check for it! If it lands in the middle of the night, we're done for." Bob stared at Turbo a moment before looking at Kendra. "Kendra? Can you find out when the Game will arrive?"

She shook her head sadly, "Sorry, that's an ability only those born in the Games have." Kendra paused as Bob let his shoulders sag, then took a quick breath and continued, "But you know.. Rodin might be able to help."

Bob looked up again. "Rodin? Keevan's son? But he's only a child!" Kendra nodded.

"Of course! Who better to ask? Besides, he'll probably be worried sick about his dad, he'll need something to keep him busy.. and besides, it would make Keevan feel better to know that his son had been able to fill in for him."

Bob shrugged, "He's our only choice.. can you call Sentra? We need him here as soon as possible." Kendra nodded and stepped out of the room to make the call. "Meanwhile, do you think we should get these two into a hospital or something?"

"Is there enough room in the hospitals? I thought that with all the injuries..?" Dot frowned and bit her lip. "No matter.. there are plenty of rooms here in the Principle Office, and we can set them up under constant surveillance in case Dana wakes up. It's just a matter of finding a room that's intact.." Dot pulled open a VidWindow and gave orders for a room to be cleared and tested as soon as personnel were free to do it.

Turbo checked Dana's pulse again and sat back to wait. He didn't have to spend much time averting his gaze from Bob and Dot since Kendra returned in less then 5 nanos with Sentra and Rodin. Bob stood and went over to the young boy.

"Now Rodin, do you know what we need?"

The boy nodded, brow furrowed in concentration. "There's a game? And you need to know when it'll get here, right?" At Bob's gentle nod, Rodin looked up at his mother. "Mom?"

"You can do it, Rodin; I know you've been practicing, consider this your first test." Sentra smiled and stepped back from her son, then turned and grinned nervously at the others.

Rodin screwed up his eyes and bit his lip in concentration, clenching his hands as his entire body went stiff. The older sprites exchanged glances at his silence, then all eyes were drawn back as Rodin relaxed and opened his eyes.

Grinning widely, eyes shining bright in his cheerful face, Rodin cleared his throat. "The next Game will arrive thirty nanos before dawn, and it will be a multi-User version of a game called 'Quake'." He looked at Bob and Turbo as Sentra knelt beside him and gave him a proud hug.

"Well? There you go.. we really should be getting back to the hospital, Keevan might wake up. The doctors said the surgery went all right and he'd be fine."

Bob nodded at Sentra and held out his hand to Rodin. "Thank you very, very much Rodin. Thanks to you, we'll be able to face the Users fully prepared." Rodin's eyes went big as he shook Bob's hand, and glanced over at the forms of his aunt and uncle as his mother steered him out the door.

"Sir? Um.. Great-uncle Bob?" Bob blinked at Rodin in shock as the boy continued, "Are aunt Dana and uncle Drake gonna be ok?"

"We hope so.. but the only ones who can really help them are Matrix and Andraia.. and the people who are coming with them. You've just told us when they'll get here, so there's nothing to worry about." Bob smiled as Rodin and Sentra left, then turned back to Dot with a horrified look on his face.

"'_Great-uncle_'??? Great User, I never thought I'd be called -that-!" Dot grinned at the look on his face, then faltered.

"That means.. oh dear.. and I'm his great-aunt. Do you realize that by the time our children are grown, Matrix's great grand-children will be old? Or by that time, they might not even be alive anymore.. a dozen generations could go by in the games and we'd still be here, only a little older." Dot shivered and hugged the twins a bit tighter.

"Matrix... if he has grandchildren older then our own kids, how old is he now? How long _has_ he been gone?" Dot looked up at Bob, her eyes bleak. "Will we even recognize him? What does he remember of us... except that we drove him away when he was young?" Bob wiped a tear from Dot's eye and kissed her gently, shaking his head.

"Remember, Keevan said that Matrix always wanted to come back.. and I don't think that anyone who could raise Keevan to be the man he is now would hate us for that... it was a mistake. From what Keevan told me, Matrix was hurt by what we said, but he'd made his choice and wasn't going to back down and return." Bob smiled sadly at his wife and smoothed her hair back. "He's a grown man Dot, he's not your little brother anymore.. something we didn't want to see before he left us for the Games."

Bob got up and started re-arranging the seat backing on the couch Dot was sitting on, and ended up laying the backrest down flat. Turbo watched, puzzled for a moment, then understanding dawned as Bob went over to a cupboard and got out a pile of thick blankets. Bob tossed Turbo a couple and got some more for the couch Dot was on, re-arranging the twins so he could spread the blankets out.

"We've ended up working late here enough times that we had these couches made into folding beds.. just flick the switch on the back, lay out a few blankets and go to sleep." Bob grinned as Turbo fiddled with the seat on his own couch and concentrated on making the bed up without waking the twins.

Dot meanwhile, had contacted her staff and informed them of the Game's arrival, and asked for Bob to be woken up fifteen nanos before the arrival time. She had also learned that the room for Dana and Drake wouldn't be ready till the morning, so resigned herself to sleeping with an eye open for Dana.

Turbo saw Dot's expression and shook his head at her. "Don't worry Dot, you two need your sleep. I'll keep an eye on our invalids in case anything goes wrong."

They had just settled themselves down when Dot sat upright again. "Bob? Where's Enzo?"

********

"Hex! Come on, you've got to let us go! It looks like the attack is over now, so you aren't in danger anymore (not that you ever were really), but there are hurt people down there! I _have_ to help!"

Cadet Enzo stood in front of Hexadecimal, trying to make the ex-virus understand. Mouse looked up from where she was sharpening her sword and shook her head.

"Give it a rest Enzo, she'll never let ya go."

"You may be a Cadet, lad, but the only one I've seen Hexy there listen ta has been your friend Bob." Ray added his own bit in from where he sat, back to back with Mouse. All three sprites had been yanked into this translucent floating bubble while en route to a trouble spot, only to find that Hexadecimal had no intention of letting them go until they had told her all about their doings since they had last met.

Needless to say, no one was in any mood to cooperate. So, Hex decided that until they played by her rules, they'd stay with her. By the time they realized that she wasn't going to let them go, Hex had started to pout, and now she wouldn't do _anything_, no matter what they said to her.

Enzo kept trying to talk to her even though Mouse and Ray had long ago given up, insisting that the only way to make Hex do anything would be to give her a taste of her own medicine. In other words, to totally ignore her even as she was doing to them. To Enzo, who knew Hexadecimal better than Ray and Mouse, that was silly. Hex could keep herself happily amused for days doing nothing.. and he wasn't about to let that happen, not when all of them were needed below.

Enzo hadn't seen Hex since the Daemon War, in fact, since she had helped keep Daemon busy while the rebels entered the SuperComputer, no one had seen her. Bob had been worried that she'd been deleted, but had no way of finding out. Since no one had seen or heard of her since the first attack, she had been listed as 'killed in action' and was now a minor celebrity. A seat with her name on it had been included in the celebrations, but she had never been around to claim it.

But here she was, apparently unchanged and obviously healthy and in full control of her powers. Enzo had to find something that would get her attention... Ah-_ha_! He knew what would work!

"Hex? I can give you a very good reason why we need you to let us go." Hex didn't move, but stared out the side of the bubble as she had before. "Bob needs our help." Hex sat up a tiny bit straighter; the movement was so slight that if he hadn't been watching carefully, he wouldn't have seen it. Enzo grinned and knew he was on the right track.

"Bob is down there somewhere, helping fight the virals.. but there are so many of them that every fighter is needed. Bob needs us, Hex, why not let us go help him before he gets hurt?"

Hex pondered this for a moment, then spun around and stared out the window again as Enzo's heart sank. Mouse patted his shoulder as he slumped, then they both froze as Hex spun around again.

"He never even _invited_ me.." Hex said sadly. "He never **called** me, never **wrote**, never tried to **find** me at _all_... why should I help Bob now?" Enzo watched her warily - this Hex was more like the old chaotic Hex than when Bob had fixed her mask. He'd have to handle this carefully..

"Hex, he tried, he really did. But after you disappeared during the fight with Daemon, he had his hands full trying to keep the SuperComputer running again, and every time he sent people out to look for you, they found nothing. We all thought you'd been deleted. We even have a spot for you at the celebration!" Hex looked at Enzo as if he had turned a different color. "It's true! You've just never come to visit before.. I know a number of people would be glad to see you, why not come down with us?"

Mouse and Ray held their breaths as Hex considered Enzo's words for a moment, not sure what they wanted her to do. Finally, Hex nodded.

"All right!" Hex waved her hand and banished the surrounding bubble, causing Mouse and Ray to yelp as their support vanished and they started to fall. Hex haved her hand again and caught the older sprites with a surge of power, even as she held Enzo and herself. "Now.. shall we go?" Hex smiled at Enzo, totally innocent and guileless, yet with a look in her eyes that reminded him of her viral origins and of the destruction she was capable of causing.

He struggled to hide a shiver and simply nodded, pointing at the Principle Office, clearly visible even this late at night.

"Bob and Dot are probably in the main command post right now, so we should- whoa!" Enzo gasped as the world around him dissolved into white light, only to reform into the familiar surroundings of the 's office, complete with the astonished faces of Bob, Dot, Turbo and Kendra.

Both groups stared at each other in total silence for a nano, then all chaos broke loose.

********

Twin wails filled the room with noise as everyone started to talk at once, so Bob and Dot immediately turned to the twins, trying to quiet them.

Hexadecimal stepped past Turbo and Kendra, both of whom were demanding to know her part in the attack, ignoring them as she peered over Bob's shoulder at the crying children.

"Oooh! They're _adorable_!" Hex's cooed at Kylla as Dot flashed a horrified look at Bob and picked Dixon up, away from Hex. Bob moved to take Kylla, but Hex was too fast for him, and swung the baby up into the air.

Every sprite there froze, fear crashing through them as Hex smiled charmingly at the child. She held the tiny sprite in the air with her power alone, and gently touched the tip of Kylla's nose as she floated. The baby's giggle was the only sound other then Dixon's sniffling, and Kylla's wide smile showed her obvious enjoyment, which was the only thing stopping Bob from snatching her out of Hex's reach.

Hexadecimal reached out and cradled the baby in her arms, cooing and making silly noises until Kylla was laughing and no sign of her earlier fright remained. Hex turned to the others and smiled innocently.

"Why Bob, Dot, why did you never tell me you'd had children?" Hex tickled Kylla under the chin again as the sprites looked on, frozen between shock and laughter; laughter won. The ex-virus looked up as the entire room dissolved into giggles, shaking her head. "There are times when I think I'm the most stable person around, you know," she said to Kylla, "and this is one of those times."

She looked at Bob and Dot, half-collapsed on the couch, leaning against each other and handed Kylla to Bob before turning to the rest of the room.

"Dear me, what happened to these two? And why does this one look so much like Matrix, and the other like Dot?" Total silence fell, and Hex felt herself shiver involuntarily at the feel of the air. "Well? Are they relatives of yours, Dot?"

"They're _Matrix's_ children? But how?"

"They've been in the Games for that long? Oh dear.."

"How many? And how old? And.. they're coming back? When?"

Hexadecimal frowned, gazing down at the still forms of Dana and Drake. She crouched and ran a hand over the smooth casing of Drake's encryption capsule, then passed her palm over Dana's limp hair. Hex closed her eyes and frowned, then concentrated. To Bob's amazement, he could feel Hex scan Dana for injuries.

"This... Dana. She's dangerously low on energy.. I don't think she'll last to the morning, not with most of her energy going to her brother. Maybe if I..." Hex placed her hand on Dana's forehead as it began to glow, transferring energy to Dana.

"No! Don't! You can't!" Kendra lunged forward to try and stop Hex, but it was too late, the energy had already started to flow from Hex to Dana in a steady stream.

"Kendra? What's wrong?" Bob grabbed hold of the Player's arm as he stepped up beside her. Glancing down at the two wounded sprites, he let out a gasp that brought everyone else running.

Dana's icon was glowing from the amount of energy Hex has putting into her, but she still wasn't waking up. Drake, on the other hand, had stopped flickering as badly, and his icon was glowing as brightly as Dana's. Bob scanned them both and managed to announce his findings in a stunned voice.

"Dana.. isn't getting better, all the energy that Hex gives her is going towards Drake... it's as if the link between them as twins is stuck open - and Drake is draining Dana of her energy." He looked up at Dot and shook his head slowly. "He's killing her."


	18. Chapter 18

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

Part 18

Hex drew her hand back, stopping the energy transfer, but Kendra dove forward and forced her hand back down.

"If you stop now, she _will_ die. The transfer, once started, _must_ continue... which is why we were waiting until Matrix arrived with the Healers and Archivists. Now you'll have to keep sending them energy at the same rate, or they'll go into shock from the change in flow.. and then they'll _both_ die."

Hex stared at Kendra in disbelief, almost anger as the Player kept in contact with her. Hex tried the force a powerburst up through Kendra's hand to make her let go, and was amazed at the result.

"You're viral!"

"Wrong.. I'm half viral.. and any power you throw at me I can turn right back around at you, so you might as well not even try." Kendra's voice was very low and very serious, and she never moved her eyes off of Hex's, making sure the message got through to the older sprite.

Hexadecimal glared at Kendra, ready to strike when Kendra growled softly and let her viral nature rise. Everyone stepped back and Dot let out a gasp as Kendra's eyes glowed a brilliant red and her metallic skin seemed to thicken. Her nails lengthened to talons and she leaned forward slightly to rest upon the balls of her feet, ready for battle.

Hexadecimal's mouth quirked up and she smiled, then nodded slightly and turned back to Dana to continue the power flow.

The Guardians stared at Kendra as she relaxed and returned to her normal appearance, but Dot kept staring at her so intently that Kendra coughed a bit and shrugged, offering an uneasy smile. Dot shook her head slightly and arranged for sleeping quarters for herself and Bob, Turbo and Kendra. Hex would be staying with the twins in the office, something Dot was rather unhappy about.

On their way out of the 's office, Kendra stopped Bob and Dot, their arms full of sleeping children.

"Dot? Look.. I can stay with Hex and the twins.. it may be a good idea for a Player to stay with her - at least I can counter-act her if she decides to do something, and I can make sure she keeps feeding the twins with energy." Kendra frowned and bit her lip. "If they die... Matrix will _NOT_ be happy. In fact, that would be an understatement. Matrix would be... extremely unhappy." She looked up at the couple, her eyes full of memories. "And you don't want the Matrix unhappy at you, believe me."

Kendra shivered slightly as Bob and Dot exchanged glances, then shrugged and continued. "Anyway, I'll stay with Hex to keep an eye on her. Is that ok with you?"

Dot nodded reluctantly, so obviously uneasy around the half-virus that Kendra simply shrugged and went back inside to sleep. The couple walked out into the hallway where they caught up with Turbo and headed for their extra room for the night. A few cots pulled together with extra blankets thrown over served Bob and Dot as a bed, and Turbo took another and flopped onto it. Dot grinned as she watched the older Guardian relax, and chuckled as his arms and legs dangled over the edges of the cot.

Turbo raised his head and blinked sleepily at her, then uttered the intelligent question, "Wha?"

Dot smiled even as she covered a yawn. "Oh, it's just that Bob used to do the exact same thing.. it took a while before he realized that when you share a bed, you can't just collapse into the middle of it... when he did that, I'd shove him over." Dot giggled as Turbo grinned. "He learned _fast_."

"Yeah, that's Bob.. always was a fast learner..." Bob rolled his eyes and sighed as Turbo managed to pull a blanket up to his chin and mumbled a good night. Dot nodded sleepily and lay back as Bob dimmed the lights and pulled a blanket up over them.

********

"Sir? Guardian? Um.. sorry, but we were asked to wake you? Sir? The Game?" Bob blinked sleepily and rubbed his eyes to clear them, managing eventually to look up at Specks.

"Is it that time already? User.. it feels like I just lay down..." Bob pushed himself up, careful not to disturb the children, and climbed over Dot to stand unsteadily beside the couch. He saw Turbo getting up from his own bed, yawning and trying to wake up without making it look as if he'd just done so. Meeting Bob's eyes, Turbo flashed a guilty grin.

"I guess I was more tired then I thought.. sorry about that." Bob shook his head and followed Specks out into the control room, Turbo trailing him, still yawning. Thanking Specks, Bob and Turbo grabbed a quick drink to help wake them up. They peeked into Dot's office to check on Dana and Drake, saw that Hex and Kendra were still with them, then headed out to the Game site.

The two Guardians flew through the dark city, noting the damage still visible even after a full night of repairs.

"You know Bob, most of the city won't even know that an attack happened last night, never mind that people died protecting them. I know there were more then a few Players hurt.. just how bad _were_ the casualties anyway?"

"Well, from what I got from Dot, out of the sixty-some people that came with the Game, they lost about fifteen.. eight casualties and the others were badly enough that they'll be in the hospital for a few days."

Turbo whistled silently, "Only eight? The virals lost at least ten times that amount! If it had been just Guardians fighting the virals, I'm not certain how many we would have lost.. frag, I don't know if we would have even managed to hold the system!"

Bob nodded and shrugged. "Well, what can I say.. the Guardians are trained to beat the User by using their wits, not weapons. Maybe that's something you should try to change in the Academy."

Turbo checked the sky and noted their progress to the Game's sector. "Almost there... and I'll make a point of bringing it up to the rest of the Council when I get back. The only thing we'll need is a group of very good teachers, and I don't really think we'll have Players volunteering to leave the Games to teach a bunch of kids how to fight."

"Maybe so, but the only other option is to hire fighters.. and that could cost quite a bit, especially since a lot of systems still aren't trusting the Guardians all the way. I've heard that they're actually using mercenaries as the system police in some places - and that will drive the prices for mercenaries up. If they're in that much demand then they can name whatever they want and people will pay it."

The two sprites paused at a street corner to get their bearings, giving Bob time to shrug and grip Turbo's shoulder in sympathy.

"Look.. all you can do is try.. ask Mouse and Ray, they might be able to get you in touch with some good people."

"That's an idea.. I'll do that... after we get out of this Game."

"Yeah, how much time do we have left, anyway? We're at the site... people are gone out of this sector, it looks like we-"

"Warning: Incoming Game."

"Well Bob, there ya go.. and here **we** go. Talk about a wake-up call.. what are the Users doing playing multi-player Games this early anyway?"

Bob shrugged and watched the Cube fall towards them. "I don't know.. I just hope I'm ready for it."

The game Cube slammed into the ground, sealing the two men off from the rest of the sleepy system.

********

"All right... Multi-player Quake. Let's see what we're up against..." Bob scanned the Game, checking the User stats and map outlay.

Turbo looked around and waited for Bob to finish his scan to tap his icon.

"ReBoot!"

"ReBoot!"

Bob looked over at Turbo, now dressed in the same outfit and in the same colors as he was. Light armor of blue and white covered their bodies enough to give them moderate safety while still being thin enough to let them run. Turbo looked around while Bob filled him in.

"Okay, there are two sides, four players to a side, which means that there are four Users up against the two of us and two Game Sprites. Purpose of this game.. same as any other game of Quake: be the last one standing."

Turbo nodded and looked down at his weapons. "Ok, now, let's see... oh great, a nail gun. Lot of good THIS is going to do.. I'd do more damage if I threw rocks at the Users instead of using this thing."

Bob grinned and hefted his rocket launcher, patting his refills to make sure they were all in place before looking around as Turbo had done.

"Ok.. so here's our flag, and not only do we have to stay alive, but we also have to capture the User's flag and return them to the prize block on the upper level of our fortress. There's a time limit here, starting at 300 and counting down, and whoever has the most points at the end of the countdown wins."

"All right then, we'd better get started; and we'd better find out where our enemies are, and where our ally is." Turbo looked grim for a moment. "I have no wish to be gunned down by four Users while our supposed 'ally' is out getting the flags, letting them win without facing a shot."

"Right. ...Oh, this is strange.. it seems.. we have five lives." Bob raised his eyebrows. "This is the first Game I've ever seen where _everyone_ has multiple lives, not just the Users. Apparently when you die, you're returned to the starting point; in other words, right back here."

"Really?" Turbo frowned again. "I wonder.. if we get shot, would we die, and a Game Sprite take our place, or would we just find ourselves back here? Somehow, I don't really want to find out, so how about we just try not to find ourselves in the User's sights?" Turbo grinned as Bob laughed.

"Sounds fine to me Turbo, I'm not too eager to get myself shot anyway... Dot would kill me if I got my armor dented." Turbo shook his head, chuckling, and the two men slid the visors down on their helmets and started up the sloping passageway to the top of their fortress.

Peeking around the corner, Bob could see the open courtyard below, and a four-way bridge leading to all the fortresses. The one directly across from him was in Green and White, on his left was Black and Red, and on the right was Yellow and Black. The open water under the ridges looked shallow.. and Bob stiffened in shock as he saw a shadowy form race under the water. It was coming from the black/red fortress, and heading towards the yellow/black one. The figure was almost to the edge when heavy gunfire shot out from the green/white fortress directly across from Bob.

The bullets hit the water, making it next to impossible to see the figure under water, but Bob could have sworn that the slim form was familiar.. and that they'd made it to safety.

Bob targeted the source of the bullets and shot two rockets off on a direct course for the other player, and to his surprise, actually managed a hit. The other guy hadn't even moved out of the way! Were these Users amateurs or had he just gotten a lucky shot?

Bob didn't know, but he wasn't about to stick around and be a target.. he stepped back behind the wall in time to watch Turbo run past him and slide behind the low wall for protection. Sure enough, bullets spattered the wall just over Turbo's head, knocking chips off the brick and onto his armor. He scrambled up and made it to the doorway across from where Bob was.

Darting down the corridor, he ran down the sloping tunnel towards their flag just in time to see a soldier in yellow and black racing towards the flag room. Turbo opened fire, spraying the entire corridor with nails, forcing the User back down the hall.

"Turbo, what's going on down there!?" Bob's voice crackled inside Turbo's helmet, startling him until he remembered the private com channels.

"We've got an intruder going for the flag.. one of our yellow and black neighbours decided to try to sneak in. I've got him penned in here, but since all I have is this nailgun, he could decide to rush me at any time. I'm going to try and keep him from coming in this way.. I'll tell you what happens in a bit."

Turbo kept firing whenever the User poked his head around the corner, picking away at his armor, then, when he was down to a hundred rounds, sent a few pipe bombs bouncing down the hallway to stop right at the corner where the User was standing. The next time he peeked around the corner, Turbo hit the detonator.

"Ok, that's one life down for at least one of the Users.. I hope there's some kind of a gun upgrade in this game, this darn thing does about as much damage as a pea shooter." Turbo heard Bob chuckle over the com.

A lighter patch of wall in the darkness brought Turbo over to investigate, and a set of double doors opened up in the wall to reveal a storage room - which just happened to be full of extra bullets, rockets and grenades, and right in the very front, a super-nailgun.

"All right! Something better than this slingshot I've got now!" Turbo grabbed the gun, then picked up as much ammunition as he could carry. Just as he stuffed the last pack of nails into his pocket, a new batch of ammo appeared out of the air, dropping right where the other loads had been. Turbo grinned as he realized that there would be no chance of running out of things to shoot.. or of things to shoot at, not when a suit of armor appeared behind a crate of rockets.

Heading back out to the hallway, Turbo hefted his new gun, satisfied at its destructive power. The Prime Guardian grinned wolfishly and ran for the flag room.

********

Bob bit his lip in worry as he fired off another rocket at one of the armored fighters running across towards his fortress. One was in the green/white and the other in yellow/black, and to make things worse, they looked like they had teamed up, since they weren't fighting each other. Suddenly, there was a loud hum that made the rock shiver under everyone's feet, and the rocket Bob had just fired missed by a hair as one User ran into the other and fell.

The air shimmered around the colored fortress flags that were painted on each of the buildings, and on the Green/white flag, a smaller version of the yellow/black flag appeared, and vice-versa on the yellow/black flag.

"Oh great.. the Users have allied!" Bob clicked on his com and yelled through it at Turbo. "Turbo! Two of them got by me! Get ready for incoming!"

"I'm on it! Full weapon upgrade too.. as soon as these guys are toast, get your butt down here and reload! That way we can trade places so I'm not stuck down here all the time. After all, I'm the senior Guardian here, aren't I? That means I can order you around, right?"

Bob grinned as Turbo poked fun, then tensed as the sound of gunfire burst through the com channel and sent echoes ringing up the tunnel.

"Well, they sure died fast, just fizzed out when their hit points went down to zero. I guess they're back at their starting points, so get down here and reload. I'm on my way up now."

Bob nodded to himself, spun and sprinted across the open runway, heading for the door. He'd almost made it when he heard a sharp _crack_ and felt what seemed to be a sledgehammer hit him in the side. Bob stumbled into the wall and threw himself flat on the ground, wincing in pain as another sniper's bullet smacked into the wall above his head. He carefully crawled to safety, then stood and brushed himself off, checking his armor for damage.

Turbo came up the stairs at a dead run, nearly knocking Bob down. "What in the Net happened to you?"

Bob grimaced as he limped towards the downward ramp. "Sniper got me.. once. Watch out for 'em.. those hits are nasty."

Turbo nodded and took up Bob's position as the younger Guardian made his way down to the store room and to a medical kit. As he made his way towards the flag room, he noticed a flicker out of the corner of his eye, a lighter patch in the darkness of the hall..

That was the last thing Bob saw before the hail of bullets chewed his armor into very, very tiny bits.

********

Damp boots thudded on cool stone, swallowing up the echoes that would normally have served as warning to the guard posted in front of the green/white flag room. Instead, the only sign the User had of an incoming attack was the sight of a half dozen grenades exploding in his face.

"Team point."

********

The User ducked around the corner, frantically reloading as fast as he could. The guy he was up against was _good_! His aim was perfect.. but now that he had loaded up on ammo, all he needed was an armour upgrade and he could kill this guy. The User stepped out of the hidden ammo room, gun blazing at.. nothing. He stopped firing and stepped out fully into the room... then kicked into high gear as he remembered his flag.

Racing down the ramp, he didn't see the shadow that detached itself from the corner of the room overlooking the main entrance. The huge shadow raced after the User, dogging every step he made. Racing into the Flag room, the User stopped short in relief as he saw that the flag was still there.. then the room burst into fire around him, and just before he died, he saw a hand reach out and grab the flagpole.

"Team point."

********

The yellow/black Sniper frantically scanned the fortresses around him, searching for any target that presented itself. He was trying hard to stay behind cover and yet still be able to shoot that he didn't notice the form that had snuck up on him. He didn't notice at all until the razor sharp blades slid across his throat, draining his strength away, and by then it was too late.

As he died, the User saw a gleam of light on the black/red armor of the sprite who had killed him, and noted the yellow/black flag held in the figure's hand. The User never saw the form leap off the top of his fortress and land on the paving below, never saw them roll into the water, or a moment later, reappear on the top of the red/black fortress, placing his flag on their prize block.

But as he rematerialized in his start room, he DID hear a voice announcing, "Team point."

********

Bob blinked as the walls around him shivered and warped for a heartbeat, then snapped into solidity again. Shaking his head in bewilderment, he checked his armor and weapons status, finding them back at the same levels they had been at the start of the game.

"What the...?"

"Bob? _BOB_! Code, but I'm glad to hear your voice again, son! Last I heard, you'd been scrapped by one of those Users that got into the base! What happened?" Turbo's voice crackled over Bob's headset, conveying the Prime's worry.

"Uh.. Turbo? I think.. I died. I'm back at the beginning. I'll get more ammo and go down to the flag room-"

"Don't bother.. the flag's right here on the walkway. I blew the User to pieces as he tried to make it past me. Just get up here and help me out if you can."

A short burst of gunfire sounded over the com as Bob grabbed the ammo around him and ran for the stairs. Well, at least he was in good shape again. The soreness and bruises had disappeared when he had 'returned'.

"Hm.. I wish I could manage to do that in every Game.."

As he slid into the open terrace, Bob saw Turbo firing out into the courtyard, his back to both doorways and the flag. Even as Bob opened his mouth to call out, he saw a form in green and white enter from the opposite door and take aim on Turbo's back. Bob never hesitated, swinging his rocket launcher up and sending off three rockets as fast as he could. The User practically exploded as all three rockets scored direct hits and Turbo whipped around, aiming his gun at Bob for a nano before returning to the courtyard.

"Good to have you back, Bob... and thanks. Now let's make sure those Users don't get our flag... I think our game sprite friends have had better luck then us - I've counted at least 5 team points for them, and none for the Users."

"And all we've managed to do is keep our flag safe," Bob grinned. "Our game sprite friends have been having all the fun.. um, Turbo? Why did it go so quiet all of a sudden?" Both Guardians peeked out into the deathly quiet courtyard, sensing a difference.

"Bob? How much time is left?"

"Let me check. Oh no.. it's at thirty and counting down. The Users must know they aren't going to win by now." Bob looked over at Turbo, worried. "And if they know they aren't going to win by points, they might-"

**BOOM!**

Both Guardians threw themselves flat as rockets blasted into the brick above them, knocking chunks of stone onto the ground. Bob started inching towards the doorway and safety as sniper's bullets started taking out chunks of the brick wall near his head. Turbo opened his mouth to say something, then suddenly lunged up, grabbed Bob by the belt and dragged him around the corner of the hallway. A heartbeat after they'd cleared the wall, there was a huge explosion.

"Explosive grenades... those guys don't want the flag, they just want to kill us!" Turbo wiped dust off his faceplate, then snapped his gun up and fired down the hall.

Bob stood and positioned himself back-to-back with Turbo, then aimed for the open doorway, ready to fire as soon as anything came in range.

He didn't have to wait very long, as two Users tried to rush the flag. Bob fired off five rockets, but only a few hit. The Users knew they were going to be attacked and planned to take hits.. and they knew they had outnumbered the Guardians.

Bob and Turbo fired non-stop, taking damage to their armor and weapons, but were driven back into a corner. Against the firepower of four opponents, they had no chance at all. Bob's armor was down to ten percent and his ammo was nearly gone, and Turbo was in the same situation. All four Users stepped forward as Turbo's gun fired its last round and Bob's rocket launcher came up empty.

Bob turned to his last weapon, the hand-to-hand axe, sensing Turbo doing the same. They wouldn't go down easy... Bob took a deep breath and watch the Users come at them, raised his axe, and..

..and watched as the Users were deleted, taken down with precisely aimed shots in the back. The Guardians gaped in shock as two figures walked out of the shadows to stand before them.

"M-Matrix?! Andraia!?"

The man who Bob had known as Enzo Matrix grinned through his silvering beard. "Hi Bob, you look like you haven't aged a day."


	19. Chapter 19

Please note that this story was written ages ago – just as season three had finished, actually. I guess you can consider this an AU, since it deviates wildly from what actually happens in season 4 and after.

Oh, and I don't own canon characters, MFE does, yadda yadda yadda.

********

"Legacy"

part 19

"Matrix! It -IS- you!" Bob stepped forward and clasped the other man in a quick hug, then stepped back to take a good look at him.

Even in the full armor of this Game's heavy weapons expert, Bob could tell that Matrix was, if anything, even bigger than the last time he had seen him. Not much bigger, but his waist had thickened a little more with yet more muscle, and he looked as solid as a brick wall.

Matrix grinned out at Bob from under his half-visored helmet, his black beard flecked here and there with white and a rare strand of silver. Matrix's left arm caught Bob's attention -- the skin from just above his elbow down was a dark grey, a contrast to the rest of the Player's emerald green skin. His partner was a different matter entirely.

Andraia stepped forward, clearing her throat. When she spoke, Bob got another shock. "The danger isn't over yet, boys, there's still a lot that can happen in the last few moments of a Game.. especially this one. I'd suggest we get back to business."

Andraia's voice had changed since Bob had last heard her speak.. it wasn't simply the tone of her voice, it was the WAY she spoke - in full command, and expecting to be obeyed. It must have worked, because Bob found himself instinctively readying himself for battle again.

Turbo grinned and shook his head, then tapped Bob on the arm and headed down the corridor. "Come on Bob.. we'd better go get restocked while we can, just in case the Users get over here before the time runs out. We can talk while we walk."

"Oh yes.. we have a LOT to catch up on, that's for sure!" Bob grinned at Matrix, then turned and followed Turbo. The two Players flanked Bob as he walked down the sloping hallway, making him chuckle softly at their protective attitude. They passed a number of other sprites, none of whom had ReBooted and were in various states of alertness. A few waved at Bob, startling him.

Bob shook his head and muttered, "I don't think I'll ever look at a Game the same way again.. you'll never know if there's someone standing around watching you make a fool out of yourself now."

Andraia laughed and clapped Bob on the shoulder as the group entered the store room. "Don't worry Bob.. we take our jobs seriously here, and no one laughs when a life is lost, you can count on that."

Bob took one power-up even as Turbo took the other, feeling instantly much better. Barely a moment later, a loud buzzing tone sounded through the entire Game, followed by the system voice announcing "Game Over". The Game Cube lifted...

Leaving Bob and Turbo standing in the middle of a once-empty courtyard that was now filled to overflowing with hundreds of Sprites, binomes and beings Bob had no name for.

The two Guardians looked around the crowded street, looked at each other, then grinned and shrugged.

"We'll find places for them somewhere, Bob, don't worry."

Turbo checked with Copeland on the status of the temporary quarters Dot had arranged the previous day for the Players. Matrix stood a few feet away just looking at him.

Andraia stood as tall as ever beside Matrix, her deep blue-green eyes wary, yet still showing her own happiness at being where she was. Her once revealing outfit had been exchanged for a modest yet quite fashionable dark bodysuit with a light jacket overtop. Her hair was pulled back into a set of multiple braids that were themselves braided together, revealing her slanted and highly sensitive ears. Bob noticed that the razor-spined starfish that had accompanied her throughout her childhood was still pinned to her hair, even if it was looking far more fragile than ever before. He doubted that Andraia dared throw it anymore - it looked more likely to crumble then to cut.

"Yeah right.. I'm just wondering if there'll be any food left after this bottomless pit gets done eating!" Bob grinned at Matrix for a nano before he remembered Dana and Drake, and let his demeanor slowly turn serious again.

"Matrix.. we need to talk."

********

The aging sprite went down on one knee, only his eyes showing the depths of his grief and worry. He placed one hand on Dana's shoulder and grasped it as if for balance, or as if to remind himself that she still lived. Andraia rested her own hand on Matrix's shoulder for support as the Medics that had arrived with them clustered around Drake's energy-clad form.

"What's your diagnosis?" Matrix's voice was harsh and grating, and every Player in the room flinched when they heard it. The senior Medic, a Dr. Sand, looked up at Matrix and met his eyes unwaveringly.

"Do you want my medical opinion as a Player, or as the father of these children? I pledge you this - the news is not good." The doctor ran his scanning equipment over Drake's energy shield, then cast it over Dana as well. He frowned, ran another series of tests, then mumbled himself even as a number of sprites entered, carrying bits and pieces of machinery. Matrix stood to greet the two foremost sprites in this new group.

"Jer.. good to see you. You manage to find everything you needed?" The man nodded, motioning towards his female companion.

"Actually, the system dwellers were very helpful, Vaya was able to get pretty much everything on our list. All but the last items - we'll need the to release those to us."

Matrix turned to look at the 's desk. Dot sat in the chair, Bob at her shoulder as they both went over various Vid Windows and readouts in front of them. Dot was still having trouble adjusting to the fact that her 'little' brother had grandchildren and was now much, much older than she. Her first reaction upon seeing him had been shock.. and joy. Joy at his safe return home, but shock at seeing for the first time just how much he looked like their long-dead father. She looked up, meeting his eyes clearly for the first time since his arrival.

Dot didn't know how to deal with him yet.. they hadn't gotten a chance to talk. There were so many things she wanted to say.. foremost, how sorry she was for the way she had acted so long ago. That would have to wait until they had time to sit down by themselves though - right now, Matrix needed the services of Mainframe's . She took a deep breath, stood and nodded.

"Alright.. what is it you need, and how soon?" Matrix flashed his sister a small smile as the two Players handed her their lists.

"Here you go, Commander. These are the last components we need to create the instrumentation we need to reverse the damage to the twins. If we might be able to get them delivered here to us before noon, we could have these two up and around by evening."

Dot looked over the lists, eyebrows raised. Some of the items there were highly specialized equipment that she would need a while to get ahold of, and the Players were right - only the would be able to divert some of that equipment, since it was almost never out of the hands of its operators.

"Hmm.. possible.. indeed, I can have all of this here for you before noon. Now, who should I have it delivered to...?" Dot raised one eyebrow at the male Player and tilted her head. The sprite flushed slightly as Matrix and Bob grinned.

"Sorry ma'am, my name is Jeremy.. Jeremy Cowe. I'm the Master Archivist." Now it was his turn to grin as Dot stood up straight and blinked at him. "Sorry about not introducing myself earlier, I've gotten rather used to being identified immediately - I don't think there's a Player alive who doesn't know who I am."

Dot nodded, tapping a few commands into the data pad she held as the female Player stepped up beside Jeremy and cleared her throat.

"This is my wife and partner, Chief Engineer Vaya Marsali. She's the one responsible for letting the Players control where they go in the Games, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff I don't understand." Vaya rolled her eyes and smacked Jer lightly on one arm before turning to Dot.

"Never mind him, Commander, he's always like this." Vaya shook her head when Jeremy grinned and shrugged, a patently comical expression on his face. "Anyway, that's the list of stuff we'll need and if noon sees us assembling the hardware, we _might_ have Dana and Drake up in time for dinner."

Dot nodded, chewing her lip as she tapped commands into her organizer, her thoughts racing. She nodded at Jeremy and Vaya almost absently and drifted back to her desk, still ordering commands to various parts of the system. Matrix raised an eyebrow at Bob as Dot opened up a double row of Vid Windows and began punching in new commands, then, quite gently, cleared his throat.

Heads turned all over the room, conversations died in mid-word, and even Dot looked up at the sudden silence that blanketed the room. She blinked. "What?"

Matrix smiled slightly, inclining his head just a fraction towards his sister. Dot felt slightly flattered at his attention, then wondered at the feeling. It seemed her little brother HAD grown up! "Dot? Maybe you could do something about getting that equipment here... sometime today?"

Dot raised an eyebrow, her expression as equally sardonic as Matrix's. "In case you haven't noticed, brother," Dot grinned as she drawled the word, nodding to one of her assistants as he entered the office. The binome handed her a report which she glanced at briefly before offering it to Matrix.

"In case you hadn't noticed, things _do_ tend to get done a bit faster around here." Matrix stepped forward and took the report, noticing Bob trying to hide a grin as he did so. The report listed the current locations of the needed machinery and the transfer and arrival times - all of it done in the time it took for Dot to walk back to her desk and sit down.

Matrix grinned, shaking his head. He probably would have laughed had the situation been any less serious, but as it was, a grin was all he could muster considering two of his children were near death.

"Sorry, Dot, it's been a while. I've gotten used to some.. inefficiency in other systems." He bowed slightly, "I'll just have to get used to actual _fast_ service again."

Dot opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a Vid Window popping open in front of her.. a Vid Window with Keevan in it.

Andraia stepped forward before Matrix could and faced her son with a frown.

"Yes, Player? You wish to make a report?"

Matrix raised an eyebrow with a slight grin while the other players in the room winced at the barely-repressed anger in Andraia's voice. Keevan tried to speak, but visibly wilted under his mother's steely glare.

"Just what did you think you were doing, traveling alone, without your group? Without another Player to watch your back? Without even a Companion to remind you of your duties? WELL??"

Dot stared, her jaw nearly on the floor as she watched Andraia deliver a good chewing out to Keevan. She had had no idea that Andraia could be so.. cold, so furious, so... so much like the leader of an entire people.

"And what of the other Players in your group? You left them short a fighter, the Companions more vulnerable, your wife undefended.. and even the CHILDREN! How COULD you, Keevan? What reason could you possibly have that would justify leaving children of your own code defenseless?" Andraia stared at Keevan, tapping her foot while she waited for him to say something.

"I.. I thought they would.. be okay-" Matrix winced visibly and grimaced, shaking his head as Andraia stopped tapping her foot.

She frowned, narrowing her eyes and snapped, "Where are you now, Keevan?"

The young man paled, realizing he'd made a very large mistake. His shoulders slumping, Keevan quietly read the address of his hospital aloud, quickly adding the room number when Andraia cleared her throat in warning.

"I'll be right there - do NOT leave that room." Andraia stalked towards the door, the crowd of Players parting before her. Just as she went through the door, she paused and turned. "It might be best if you called the rest of your team in. I have a few.. things to say to THEM as well."

She left the room, and it seemed to Dot that the entire room breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Matrix, Dot wondered again just who really ran the Players, Andraia or Matrix?

Matrix gave Keevan a small smile and asked, "How's the arm?"

Keevan carefully worked it in a circle, wincing every so often. "It's ok.. not perfect, but that will take time to heal. Most of the work on it is done, it just needs time."

Matrix nodded, then grinned and shook a finger at Keevan warningly. "After you get out of the hospital, I need to have a talk with you." Keevan bit his lip and looked down, avoiding his father's eyes. "I mean it Keevan.. we have to talk. That is, if there's anything left after your mother gets done with you. What in Gameplay were you thinking?" All humor had left Matrix's face and voice now, and his frown was as serious as Bob had never seen it.

Keevan shrugged and tried unsuccessfully to meet his father's eyes, yet he found it hard not to say anything when Matrix stood there, awaiting a response. Finally, he straightened his shoulders and forced himself to look up.

"I - I am confident in my own abilities, and know what I am capable of, and I judged that the danger in Playing solo was low, considering my experience in the Games. I judged my group well equipped and more than capable of protecting the other members without my assistance." Keevan held his chin high, not letting his eyes waver from his father's face.

Matrix nodded slightly, his frown gone. His eyes shone with pride at the way his son stood up to him... then spoke.

"You may have been right.. but the choice and the judgement was not yours to make. Do you not remember the oath you took when you were invested as a Player?"

"Yes, father," Keevan mumbled, chastised.

"Player Keevan - perhaps I did not make myself clear. Do you or do you not remember the oath you took when you were invested as a Player?"

Bob looked from Matrix to the Vid Window image of Keevan, finally noticing something he hadn't seen before. While they were obviously father and son, there was also a distinct line between business and family - and the discussion had just gone from family to business. Keevan had disobeyed as a Player - which meant that Matrix had to deal with him as he would any Player, not just as his son. Bob wondered just how the older sprite would do that...

Keevan straightened again, looking his father in the eye, and recited:

"I pledge my life to the protection of those unable to protect themselves, to lay down my life for others who may never know my name, to freely give my full effort with no expectation of gain.

I promise to keep to the beliefs that all life is sacred and should be protected, be it Viral, Sprite, Binome or Numeral, no matter what path they follow, be it malignant, neutral or benign.

I shall render compassion to those in need, seek justice for the wronged, and always keep an open mind. I will not act without detailed information, I will not rush into action, endangering those who follow me, and I will not ever, put or leave a child in danger.

I swear to follow the commands set down by the Head Players, the Archivists, Chroniclers, my group leaders and Players senior to myself. If I have any questions about the orders of these individuals, I will ask them _after_ the fact, as not to undermine their authority.

I will travel in a group of no less than three - any less and I am endangering myself and others. There will be no deviation from this rule, as it has been proven many times over that a single Player cannot defend himself and others without grievous harm.

A child's life is one of the most precious gifts given to us. I will treat every child like my own, teach them as many of my skills as possible, and listen to what they have to offer in return. An open mind and a clear heart can often see what is hidden to more experienced eyes.

I will not attack a virus without proof of wrongdoing - an evil reputation can be misleading, and the most innocent appearance be simply a facade for a villain.

I will do my best.. anything less is unacceptable for a Player."

Silence greeted the ending of Keevan's recitation, a silence broken only by the sound of Matrix clearing his throat.

"And if you know the Oath, why did you break it?"

Keevan bit his lip, opening his mouth to speak - when he suddenly froze, his eyes widening.

"I'll take it from here, Matrix. Andraia out." Andraia's voice floated through the VidWindow before it snapped out of existance, giving those assembled in the Principle Office a last look at Keevan's suddenly pale face.

Matrix nodded and turned back to the twins, ignoring the questioning looks Bob and Dot sent him. He knelt beside Dana again, staring at the red and black taloned hand on Dana's shoulder.

"So.. Hexadecimal. How have things been for you these past two years?" He glanced up to see her eyes glowing green, a sad smile on her china-white face.

"I am fine, and life has treated me well since Daemon's death. To my deepest regret, your children do not share my well-being." Matrix's mouth tightened slightly, but Hex did not react. "I am sorry, Guardian-"

Matrix flicked his gaze up to meet her own, suddenly angry. "As sorry as you were when you tried to pick up where Daemon left off?"

Hexadecimal hissed at Matrix, her eyes gradually shifting from green to red while the other people in the room started muttering. "You _**promised**_, Guardian! You swore you would say _nothing_-"

"As long as you didn't harm me or mine! What else do you call this?" Matrix gestured angrily at the still forms of his children, lying at Hex's feet. "I should have known better than to trust you, even after you were defragged." He stood and turned to the group of Players standing nearby, nodding at his Archivist.

"I want that equipment set up as soon as possible, and the nano it's complete, I want a full squad to escort _HER_," he nodded his head towards Hex, "as far away from my family as possible. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, sir"'s came back from the group, muted by his stern gaze.

Matrix drew himself up to his full height, his glare made even more threatening by the scowl on his face, crossed his arms and stationed himself across from Hexadecimal. His wide stance made it obvious that he intended to stay in that same spot until the virus had been taken away. The Players quietly excused themselves and found other places to be, all except those who had no choice to be there, and even they looked like they would have gleefully pounced on an excuse to leave.

Bob shook his head and sighed. It seemed that in some ways, Matrix hadn't changed at all.

"Matrix, Hexadecimal isn't chaotic anymore - I know it was a long time ago for you, but I did defrag her face with the system restart. Her random activities-"

"Weren't entirely overwritten." Matrix's voice was flat, deliberate. Hex stared up at him, the corner of her mouth curling in a snarl. Matrix shifted his arm slightly, letting Bob see that lights twinkled on the slide of his Gun. Flicking his gaze back to the older man's face, Bob saw that his targeting eye was glowing, and locked on Hex.

"Does it have anything to do with her 'taking over from where Daemon left off', or whatever it was you mentioned? What did you mean by that?" It was now Bob's turn to look at Hex questioningly.

"I thought you were helping us, Hex, that you were on our side during the fight." Dot frowned, stepping up beside her husband. "Were we wrong to register you?"

Hex snarled once more at Matrix, gave him one last glare, then turned her entire attention to the body of Dana, totally ignoring Matrix and everyone else in the room. Matrix shook his head and snorted in disgust, his lips curling in a sneer. Dot sighed and placed a hand on Matrix's arm tentatively.

"Matrix? Could... could we talk?" He flicked his gaze from Hex to Dot - she stared back, unflinching, until he nodded and relaxed.

"Of course. Where?"

********

"So. We got a bit of your story from Keevan, but not a lot of it, and certainly not as much as we would have liked. It skimped over a few things we'd like to ask you.. if you don't mind, that is," Dot said over her shoulder to Matrix. The three were headed down the hallway towards the temporary quarters, but Matrix wasn't paying much attention. He looked at the walls with a rather wistful smile on his face, pausing every once in a while to run a hand down a doorjamb or across a lock panel.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. No, I don't mind," he said, his voice distant. When Dot paused and unlocked the door to yet another room, Matrix scuffed the toe of one boot on the floor, then chuckled to himself.

"What?" Bob was curious, he hadn't expected Matrix to act like... like someone getting ready for an intensive interview.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just - the last time I was here was so long ago.. yet my clearest memory of this place is when I was running down the hallways as a kid, being chased by Frisket, or security for knocking something over." Dot chuckled as she remembered, then abruptly sobered as he continued, "I guess I never really expected to see this place again."

"Well, you are seeing it, and you're here. Rather, WE're here, so come on in." Dot smiled and stepped into the room, Matrix following-

And nearly stumbled back as the noise from two screaming children and their two desperately scrambling nannies hit him square in the face. Bob winced, then pushed by Matrix to scoop Dixon up, just in time to keep him from crawling under another cot.

"Oh no you don't!" Bob swung the toddler up to his shoulder, then lent a hand to help Dot, who had ended up crawling under yet another cot after Kylla. Matrix stared at the twins in shock.

"You have twins too?" Dot looked up at the sharp tone.

"Yes, Kylla and Dixon.. why?" Dot detected a bit of alarm in Matrix's voice, then remembered. "Wait a nano, you have twins. Multiple set of twins, actually. Is there something, I don't know, something wrong that's causing this?" Matrix noticed she clutched Kylla a bit tighter as she turned to Bob. He shook his head, dismayed.

"I never thought to check.. I was just so happy when we had two.. I didn't even consider it! I was just glad that none of my web-scarring got through to them.. maybe I was wrong. Maybe it'll show up in some kind of sickness-"

Dot paled and clutched Kylla so hard the baby started to cry. Dixon started to wail as well, picking up on his father's sudden tension. Matrix stepped forward, hand out stretched.

"Hey hey hey! Just wait a nano, you two - I never said anything like that, I didn't even hint at it! Bob, your children are FINE. They're healthy, happy and safe - what else could you ask for? And Dot? Don't start seeing shadows and illnesses where there aren't any - believe me, Andraia and I went through the same thing."

The Guardian and looked up at the Player, worry in their eyes.

"Now, sit for a bit and _calm down_." Matrix eased himself onto one of the cots opposite the couple as they settled. The cot creaked under his weight, but he was used to things like that. The two binome nannies excused themselves quietly and slipped outside, giving them some privacy.

"Now - after all that, there might be something different about your children. Not something BAD, but rather something we as Players see as being good."

"What do the Players have to do with this?" Bob asked, "They haven't been web-damaged, have they?"

Matrix sighed and leaned back against the wall. "No.. it's not web-damage, or damage of any kind that we've been able to isolate. It's more of an addition. In a good way," he added hurriedly, "the added code sees to speed up healing and quickens response time. Bob, you wouldn't believe how hard I had to train to get this fast - and it takes Keevan less than half the effort to get the same result. From the reports, Rodin is even faster, because he has the effects of three generations in his code." Matrix paused and shook his head.

"That was the reason behind the creation of the Archivists - to keep track of those born in the Games, so we can minimize the potential damage that these Game changes will cause, and yet maximize the good qualities that result at the same time. It may be that every second or third generation, a born Player will have to marry a system sprite - we don't know yet." Matrix looked up at the worried faces watching him.

"Basically, what this means is, you have nothing to worry about. I doubt your children are going to become Players, and while they may have some of the heightened senses Keevan and the others have, it won't be as much as if they had grown up in the Games."

"But.. you will have your people stop in here and let us know what you've found out, won't you?" Dot was relaxing, humming a tune to help Kylla settle down.

Bob played with Dixon's hair, ruffling it to get some of the floor dust out. He frowned. "But.. we might have been in the Games, but WE didn't live in them. Why should the Game changes affect our kids?"

"Because it was in Andraia's code.. and when Bob healed her, some of it got into Bob's protocol. I remember seeing it in his profile after the Daemon War - a few tiny irregularities that I had only seen in my own code and Andraia's. Since then, it has popped up in every Player's code, and it's doubled or tripled in those who were born in the Games. It's just to let you know, so if these two little ones start having strange urges to play the system's Games, you'll know the reason why."

Bob nodded, then shifted Dixon on his lap, using the distraction to give a particular 'look' to Dot. She nodded, then turned to her brother.

"Matrix? We asked you here for a reason, and this time, we want you to stay where you are, and hear us out."

Matrix winced, looking very uncomfortable, and half-raised his hand in protest. "Dot, you don't-"

"Yes. We do. Now just listen - for once, please, just.. listen," she pleaded. "This is hard enough on us already." Glancing at Bob for support, she resettled Kylla and began.

"We were wrong. I was wrong. I knew how you must have felt when you left - betrayed by those you loved most, hurt by false accusations. I am sorry, I never meant to hurt you.. it's just that it was so hard to realize that you had grown so much without me. I never gave you enough credit, I figured I always had to be there to steer you in the right direction, and never bothered to think that you had a mind of your own, and wanted to go your own way."

Dot stared down at her feet, then took a deep breath before continuing.

"When you were young, and this system's only defender, I betrayed you... I betrayed you by not believing in you." She looked up at Matrix's face, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "And the worst thing is that I didn't realize I had even done it until after you left Mainframe for the second time. And when you left.. I realized that I had betrayed you again, and I had done it in the exact same way.

I didn't believe, couldn't believe that you had grown up enough to have a child and lose it, and so my mind seized on the first excuse for Kylla's death. I thought.. I DID think that her death could have been prevented." Her eyes dropped again, and her face flushed with shame. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she sniffed, wiping it away. "I actually believed that you had been so careless as to have killed her...

Matrix.. I am sorry, so sorry I can't begin to tell you. When you just up and left like that, I knew I was wrong, knew that you were right to leave, and that you were right when you said that we weren't your family anymore. I realized that you had grown up, and that you had to make your own place - and that I had closed the door on your chances of making Mainframe your home again."

Dot stopped, biting her lip as tears rolled down her face, remembering that day with a crystal clear memory. Bob cleared his throat, his own eyes rather bright, and spoke.

"Matrix, we heard your story from Keevan, the story we should have heard from you. In our, our stupid misplaced concern, we ignored- no, _I_ ignored what I had seen of you in the Web. I knew that you had changed, I knew, from your actions on teh Saucy Mare, that you wouldn't have risked your daughter's life.. but it didn't matter.

As soon as we got back home to mainframe, I started thinking like everyone else, seeing you through everyone else's eyes. I saw a huge powerful sprite, one who had a short temper and a nasty weapon that could and had blown holes in large buildings. I saw a jumped-up kid who thought he could take on the Net by himself.. I followed the crowd, seeing only one side of the mask.

I should have known better, because on the Mare, you let me see the real you. I knew then that you would have given your last breath to save a child's life, but... system thinking took over. The system looked the same as it had before you grew up, and all I really wanted was to be home again."

Bob looked up, forcing himself to meet Matrix's eyes. "You had been away longer than I had, and yet I let myself be deluded into thinking that nothing had changed, that it was all a bad dream.. and I'm sorry. If I had been paying more attention, if I had been doing my duty to you as a Guardian.. it never would have happened. I would have stopped Dot, I would have said something to make her realize the truth."

Bob stopped, scrubbing the tears from his eyes as Dot sat up straighter and looked directly at her brother. Matrix had slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees, holding his head in his hands. He looked up when the silence continued, his silvering hair framing his face and making him look even older.

Dot cleared her throat as Bob coughed nervously, then she began again.

"What we're trying to say is.. we're sorry. Will you please forgive us?"

Matrix sat up, took a deep breath of his own, and spoke a single word.

"No."


	20. Chapter 20

"No, I won't accept your apology, Dot. You know why? It's because you have nothing to apologize for." Matrix stood and rubbed his face roughly. "Look. This.. isn't easy for me to say.. but I'll give it a try." He let out a sigh, and with a worried expression on his face, began.

"I'm.. sorry. I never meant to hurt you, please, believe me. I was just.. well, you know how I was. Ready to go off at a flicker in the datastream, you know? The slightest thing could set me of.. and did."

Matrix stood up and walked to the far wall, making a show of examining it before turning back. He stood with his arms behind his back, and a concerned look upon his face, and Dot had a sudden flash back to her childhood, a half-hidden memory of her father looking very like Matrix did now. Matrix began to pace from wall to wall in front of Dot and Bob, talking while he went.

"Well. I was very much on edge when we got back from the Daemon war, and the main problem on my mind was 'what was I going to do now?'. I certainly wasn't ready to settle down into a business-like type job, I wasn't a Guardian," he nodded to Bob, who winced at the reminder, "and besides.. Andy and I weren't sure if we would stay in Mainframe. After Turbo's reaction to your offer to sponser me to the Academy as an adult, Bob, I didn't think I'd be welcome in any main system in the Net. The possibilty of returning to the Games had been in the back of both of our minds, it just happened to be back luck that our little.. disagreement was what triggered it all off."

"Disagreement? Matrix, we practically- no, we DID accuse you of killing your own child!" Dot held out her hands to her brother, pleading. "I wouldn't call that little-"

"Dot.. I overreacted. From what you knew, I had accedentally caused the death of a child. All I had to do was tell you the facts, let you know what had really happened... and I didn't. I just assumed that you would know-". Matrix broke off and rubbed his left forearm, right at the discoloration.

"We'd lost Kylla only a month before we jumped into the system where we found the Captain. We were just trying to get away.. drown our pain by immersing ourselves in the Games, thinking we could out-run the memories.." Matrix sighed and stopped pacing, looking far older than his 5 some-odd years.

When he turned back to Bob and Dot, is eyes were so different from what they had expected.. Bob finally realized that Matrix was no longer the young boy Enzo, nor Cadet Enzo Matrix, and not even the young hothead Matrix.. he was simply Matrix - the founder of a vast internetworked society that had been based on a random chance. Not everyone would have had the ability to see that chance, never mind sieze it, yet Matrix had. More then that, he had built on it, made it something that hundreds, even thousands of people believed in, lived for, and sought to spread to others.

Matrix was someone far greater than Bob could ever know.. and Bob realized that he felt honored to have known Matrix when he was a child. He felt an odd pride at seeing the result of a man's life, knowing that he had at least added in a small part to Matrix's life, perhaps even given him someone to look up to.

Bob blinked as Dot clutched his arm tighter, bringing him back to the present, and he realized that Matrix was still talking.

"..so there's nothing to forgive you for, Dot. And Bob, it wasn't your fault either - neither of you knew anything of Kylla other than what Andy and I had told you - that she had been our first child, that she had died, and that a virus was partly responsible for her death. Considering what Andraia and I had been doing since childhood, travelling from system to system, there was no reason for you two to assume anything other than that we had been travelling non-stop in search for Mainframe. We didn't really want to let you know that we had gotten tired.. and finally given up. Telling you the truth would have been.. betraying the memories I had of you as a child." Matrix winced, remembering a time when he had been accused of exactly that.

"But, Matrix, we cou-" Dot shook her head and tried to say something else, but Matrix cut her off with a movement of his hand. Dot stopped in mid-word, and that surprised Bob as much as Matrix's appearance had. Dot must have realized the same thing that he had.. that her little brother had grown up. She was now ready to accept him as an adult.. and she showed it. It was too obvious -not- to accept him now - he wore an air of authority like a cloak, one that spoke of long-term acknowledgement of his place as first among equals.

Matrix was no longer a young man trying to make a place in the world, he had found his place, and had spent his adult life knowing that he had discovered his true calling. This is what both Bob and Dot had realized, and they recognized it in each other, their newfound shared acceptance of the man who stood before them. Dot felt incredibly proud of her brother, and tears glimmered in her eyes as she realized that her parents would both be honored to know what their children had accomplished in life.

"Dot.. listen to me, please." Matrix stepped infront of her and took her hands, pulling her to her feet. Bob stood as well, and Matrix took one of his hands as well. He held them firmly and looked into their eyes, and spoke again, his voice ringing with sincerity.

"I can't forgive you.. not until you forgive yourselves. After you've managed that... then we can talk. And I'm certain that you'll find out I'm not as big a monster as you may have thought I was." Matrix grinned, and Dot smiled shakily back at him.

"But for now.. Dot? I haven't hugged you since I was a kid... could we.. maybe.. make up for that now?" The look on Matrix's face was so wistful that Dot surprised herself with a laugh before grabbing her brother up in a big hug. His arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, and she could feel the power in them as he carefully held her safe. User, but she had missed this.. missed the chance to think of him simply as her brother, not 'big Enzo' or 'little Enzo', but as her brother, Enzo Matrix. Dot stood there, hugging her brother tight for a few nano's before she realized that there were really three of them in the hug, that Bob had somehow found his way in there beside her. It didn't matter, Matrix's arms were big enough to hold both of them, and more. It just felt so right to have her brother back again... she looked up into his smiling face to discover that tears were sliding down his cheeks. She brushed them away with one hand, and smiled when he leaned into her hand.

"I.. I never meant to hurt you, Dot. I love you too much to have done that on purpose," he said, his voice rough with emotion. She smiled, and opened her mouth to say so when-

"MATRIX!" The doors burst open, revealing a wild-eyed Kendra. She was out of breath, but even so, managed to speak her message.

"You have to come.. It's Dana!"

***********

A/N: Unfortunately, this is all I have left of chapters 20 and 21. Shortly after finishing chapter 21 I suffered a complete hard drive failure, turning my HD into a solid piece of junk. Let's just say that the grinding sounds coming from the thing when I tried to start it up sounded worse than shifting gears in a manual drive car without popping the clutch.

However, I did have both chapters posted for a short while on my (very) old website, and I know quite a few people read them then. Some may have saved the files. If anyone knows of anyone else who may have a copy of these files, could you please, *please* have them email me? If someone can manage to find them for me, I'll write them into the sequal. (Which I do have scripted out, but not written yet.) I kind of lost my urge to write Legacy when I lost the last two chapters.


End file.
